Connor Hellebuyck was introduced by the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, four days after a trade that ended two months of standoff with the Winnipeg Jets. That same evening, with two hours’ notice, he was invited to the team’s Halloween party at a bar in Hoboken.
Equipment manager Chris Scoppetto drove him to a Spirit Halloween store. Hellebuyck walked out with an ATM costume.
Asked by Peter Baugh of The Athletic why he had picked that particular outfit, the goaltender declined to elaborate.
“I’m going to let you guess on that one,” Hellebuyck said.
Connor Hellebuyck’s money, before and after the standoff:
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total contract value | $59.5 million |
| This season’s base salary | $7.5 million |
| Forfeited during suspension | about $927,000 |
How much money did Connor Hellebuyck lose?
The Jets suspended him without pay in mid-September for failing to report to training camp, and the arrangement ran until October 23, the day he was traded. Across those weeks he gave up something north of $927,000, which works out at more than a tenth of everything he was due to earn this season.
He had been giving up roughly $38,660 for every day he stayed away, a figure tracked in real time by a website a Jets supporter built specifically for the purpose.
Which is presumably the joke, although nobody has got him to confirm it.
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The hockey has gone well enough to pay for a few costumes. Hellebuyck stopped 17 of 18 in his debut in Dallas on Tuesday, a 5-1 win that took New Jersey to four straight, and head coach Sheldon Keefe described the performance as exceptional.
He plays in Winnipeg on November 10, where the reception may be less forgiving than Hoboken’s.
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