Connor Hellebuyck was not on the ice at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday, was not on the New Jersey Devils bench, and spent the evening in the video room with team staff. The Winnipeg Jets crowd found a way round that.
Jets reporter Connor Hrabchak kept a list, with the caveat that he definitely missed a few.
“Helle sucks.” “Coward.” “Playoff choker.” “Where is Connor?” “Trump’s your daddy.” “Mercer’s better.” “Pull your goalie.” “Face the music.” “Helle’s fishing.” “Helle’s missing.” “Signed in pencil.” “Playoff pylon.” “Dawson Mercer.” “F*** you Helle.” “We don’t need you.”
Several of them were aimed less at Hellebuyck than at the decision to hide him. “Where is Connor?” and “Pull your goalie” were directed at Jake Allen, in the hope of forcing a change New Jersey had no intention of making.
“Face the music” was his own phrase, repeated back. Hellebuyck said on Sunday that he was disappointed he wouldn’t get to face the music in Winnipeg.
Hellebuyck’s regular season against his playoffs:
| Games | Save percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| Regular season | 625 | .916 |
| Playoffs | 58 | .903 |
Why do fans call Connor Hellebuyck a playoff choker?
Four of the fifteen chants came back to the same thing. Hellebuyck has won three Vezina Trophies and a Hart, and has never translated any of it into a deep run. He went 24-34 across seven postseasons in Winnipeg with a .903 save percentage, and the Jets never got past the second round after reaching the Conference Final in 2018.
The road numbers are worse still. He went 1-9 across one stretch of ten playoff games away from home, and was pulled four times in seven road starts during another.
So “playoff choker”, “playoff pylon”, “Helle’s fishing” and “Helle’s missing” all draw from the same well.
Dawson Mercer supplied the rest of the material himself. One of the players Winnipeg received in the trade, he scored twice against his old club including the winner, which is why his name became a chant of its own.
Not all of it landed as harmless. Hellebuyck had spent 21 minutes with reporters that morning, during which he said concerns about his family’s safety were part of why he wanted to leave Winnipeg. The “coward” chants started a few hours later.
Winnipeg won 4-2. The clubs meet again in Newark on November 28.
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