Connor Hellebuyck spent eleven seasons in Winnipeg and did not play a second of Tuesday’s game there. Henrik Lundqvist, working the broadcast for TNT, thinks that call belonged to the goaltender rather than the club.
“I think he’s earned the right to make that decision for himself,” Lundqvist said. “I think New Jersey wants to protect him, but I think that Connor Hellebuyck has earned the right to make that decision after 11 years.”
He also laid out what the job involves on nights like that one.
“As a player, you take on a lot. You have to. You sign up for that when you sign a contract,” Lundqvist said. “And when things are not going well you have to face the music.”
His fellow panelists then asked what he would have done himself. He didn’t hesitate.
“I would not leave the room with the GM until he says, okay, you’re playing,” Lundqvist said.
Hellebuyck’s evening in Winnipeg:
| Starts for New Jersey | Wins | Minutes played Tuesday | Minutes spent with media |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 5 | 0 | 21 |
Did Connor Hellebuyck choose not to play in Winnipeg?
General manager Sunny Mehta‘s statement described Hellebuyck as adamant about playing and put the decision squarely on the organization, citing a reduction in expected win probability. Head coach Sheldon Keefe pointed to workload and upcoming divisional games against Washington. Hellebuyck himself said he was disappointed but understood.
That hasn’t stopped the alternative theory circulating, which is that a player who had already shown he could force his own outcomes was content to let his general manager absorb the criticism this time. Hellebuyck requested a trade with years left on his deal, refused to report to training camp and ultimately got the move he wanted.
Lundqvist stopped short of saying that. What he said was that the choice should have been the goaltender’s.
The crowd made its own feelings known regardless, working through fifteen separate chants during a game Winnipeg won 4-2. Dawson Mercer and Nico Daws, both acquired in the Hellebuyck trade, scored twice and made 19 saves respectively.
Lundqvist knows something about carrying a market. He spent all 15 of his NHL seasons with the New York Rangers, won the Vezina Trophy in 2012 and entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2023. The full exchange aired on TNT before puck drop.
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