Connor Hellebuyck Garnered Interest From Eastern Conference Teams

Connor Hellebuyck was playing ‘The Bachelor’ over the offseason.

Of course, I mean this in the hockey sense. Two teams out of the Atlantic Division, the Buffalo Sabres and the Florida Panthers, were both looking to make a trade for Hellebuyck over the summer, according to Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast. Further to this, Friedman said the Jets ideally want a goalie in return; they’re not looking to give up Hellebuyck for future assets in an effort to mitigate their veteran players from asking out.

The four-time all-star, three-time Vezina trophy winner as the league’s best goaltender, and 2024-25 league MVP makes $8.5MM per season and will earn $59.5MM by the time he’s 38 years old in 2031. Hellebuyck ended this past season, posting a 2.86 goals against average and a 0.895 save percentage, the SV% chalking up to the worst of his 11-year NHL career. After three consecutive seasons of 30+ goals saved above expected, he ended 2025-26 stopping -0.3, his worst in that category since 2016-17. All of this culminated in a 23-23-11 record in 57 games started for the Jets.

Friedman had previously reported on the Sabres, which he discussed that Hellebuyck was willing to move his no-movement clause to be traded to the Sabres during the week of the 2026 NHL Draft. Had this trade gone through, the Sabres were looking at utilizing Hellebuyck in tandem with Colten Ellis as a backup.

Winnipeg, in return, wanted the fourth-overall pick and, at the same time, hoped to keep the eighth-overall pick in this deal. The Sabres weren’t looking to make that trade without swapping draft capital within the top 10. The Jets, who were very fond of Viggo Björck before eventually taking him at eighth, weren’t likely to select him with the plethora of top-end talent available at fourth overall. Further to this, Friedman believes that Sabres netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has the Winnipeg Jets as one of five teams on his modified no-trade list for the 2026-27 season, so the value for Winnipeg to gain a goalie in return wouldn’t add up there.

The Panthers did make an offer as well. Before eventually dealing for Jacob Markstrom from the New Jersey Devils, they approached Winnipeg in light of believing they’d lose Sergei Bobrovsky in free agency. Florida included Evan Rodrigues, the draft capital they’d eventually trade for Brady Tkachuk, and a roster player who was not Anton Lundell.

Another goaltender who could’ve potentially been traded to Winnipeg had also placed the Jets on his list of no-trade teams.

Further to all this, the Carolina Hurricanes, who are dealing with Alexander Nikishin’s trade request, could also be an option here as they’re interested in this deal. Friedman said that if it were up to Winnipeg, they’d have dealt for Nikishin already. There is an issue regarding whether the young Russian defender would sign after being dealt to the Jets.

All in all, it’s rare for these situations to prolong with training camp underway. For the players, contrary to the management, the ball is in their court. As my colleague Josh Cybulski pointed out in his piece, it’s been nearly a decade since the NHL has seen a truly big September trade, with the last ones coming in 2018. The value of assets is not as high with the season around the corner, so a move doesn’t have to happen.