The story all autumn has been that Connor Hellebuyck won’t turn up for the Winnipeg Jets. Elliotte Friedman says that stopped being true some weeks ago.
“Connor Hellebuyck did come to the Jets about the start of the season and said, ‘I want to come back and I want to return and rejoin the team,'” Friedman said on Saturday Headlines.
Winnipeg said no, and had the paperwork to make it stick.
“The Jets, because he didn’t have permission to be away, were given the leeway to suspend him. The league and the players association both knew about it, and there was an agreement made that they could suspend him until next Friday, October 23rd, without pay,” Friedman said.
So the goaltender who asked out in the spring, went public in August and skipped training camp has spent the past three weeks wanting back in and being refused. He has forfeited more than $721,000 in the process.
What happens to Hellebuyck on Friday?
That agreement runs out at the end of this week, at which point Winnipeg loses the ability to keep him away without paying him. What Friedman expects next is the part nobody saw coming.
“I think there’s a very legitimate chance, if they don’t have this done by Friday, that Winnipeg says, ‘We’ll pay you, but you don’t have to come,'” Friedman said.
In other words, the Jets would hand over an $8.5 million cap hit for a goaltender they would rather not have in the building, purely to buy more time to find a trade.
READ MORE: The Jets captain has a warning for Connor Hellebuyck
The room doesn’t sound eager for the alternative. Captain Adam Lowry was asked about a possible return after Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Carolina and didn’t offer much warmth.
“If he does show up, conversations are going to have to happen,” Lowry said.
Winnipeg has managed perfectly well without him, sitting 6-2-1 with Stuart Skinner and Clay Stevenson splitting the work, and Stevenson making 34 saves in the Carolina defeat. Carolina, Buffalo and Utah remain the clubs attached to a trade, with the Sabres having re-engaged in discussions in recent days.
Hellebuyck is signed through 2030-31.
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