The list of teams that make sense for Connor Hellebuyck, a 33-year-old Vezina winner is short, and most of it lives in the Eastern Conference. Then Elliotte Friedman went on Sportsnet this week and added the San Jose Sharks to it.
“Tires have been kicked, between the two teams, without knowing who initiated it,” Friedman said. “When I sit here and I go through the league and think, who makes sense, San Jose is very high on that list for me.”
He also said the thing that decides whether any of it holds up: “I think Hellebuyck looks at his window to win, like two to three years. That is when he is gonna be at his absolute peak and that’s what he’s looking at.”
Two to three years is the test. San Jose does not pass it.
The Sharks are further away than the hype
The young core is real. Macklin Celebrini scored 115 points at 20 and signed for five years and $94 million, Will Smith and Michael Misa are behind him, Sam Dickinson is coming, and Ivar Stenberg went second overall in June.
But San Jose went 39-35-8 last season, 5th in the Pacific, and has missed the playoffs seven years running. The defense finished 30th in goals against per game, which is why San Jose brought in Jacob Trouba and Darnell Nurse this summer. Yaroslav Askarov posted an .884 save percentage.
A team that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2019 doesn’t become a contender by adding a goalie. It becomes a playoff team, maybe, a year or two from now. That is roughly when Hellebuyck’s window closes and Celebrini’s has barely opened.
Buffalo is the version of this that works
The Sabers went 50-23-9, won the Atlantic Division, and lost in the second round to Montreal, ending an NHL-record 14-season playoff drought on the way. Rasmus Dahlin was a Norris Trophy finalist. Tage Thompson and Owen Power are signed and in their prime.
And the hole is the position Winnipeg is selling. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen went 22-9-3 with a .909 save percentage in 35 games. Solid. Not the thing that wins a round in May.
General manager Jarmo Kekalainen will not discuss any of it. “I have never told anybody in the media about any of the talks with other general managers, so I don’t know where it comes from,” he told Buffalo Hockey Beat.
Winnipeg decides less than it looks
Hellebuyck confirmed his trade request on 27 August, did not report to camp on 16 September and was suspended the same day. He is still a Jet. Kevin Cheveldayoff has denied that any agreement exists, and the suspension changed the terms without changing the standoff.
His contract runs at $8.5 million through 2030-31 and carries a no-movement clause that converts to a limited list later in the deal. Until it does, he picks the destination — which is why the list of teams that make sense to him matters more than the list of teams that call.
Why he wants out was never only about hockey. Where he lands will be, and Friedman has been working this market for weeks. San Jose kicking tires is news. San Jose contending inside his window is a much harder sell than Buffalo doing it.
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