Jets will be tested without star goaltender Connor Hellebuyck

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, the reigning Vezina Trophy and Hart Memorial Trophy winner, will miss between four and six weeks while recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. 

The Jets announced on Friday that Hellebuyck had been dealing with the injury for some time. By addressing it now, the 32-year-old Hellebuyck should be fully healthy in time for the season's stretch run and, plausibly, the Olympics in February.

The Jets are 12-7-0 through the season's first quarter. Though not as dominant as last season's Presidents' Trophy winning group, they sit in third in the Central Division.

How concerned should the Winnipeg Jets be about Connor Hellebuyck?

The timeline for recovery and return puts Hellebuyck in the net sometime around the Christmas holidays. If Winnipeg is able to maintain pace in the standings without him, they could safely afford to wait until the start of 2026. 

Hellebuyck has played at least 60 games in each of the last four seasons. He has led the league in appearances five times. Recently, his playoff numbers have been disastrous — indicating concerns that the Jets might be overusing him during the regular season. In Hellebuyck's last three playoff runs in Winnipeg, he's 8-15 with an alarming .870 save percentage. 

Using the conservative six-week estimate, Hellebuyck would miss approximately 20 regular-season games. If he could return by Jan. 3, 2026, Winnipeg would have 43 games remaining. Hellebuyck could start every game left at that point and still would not reach the 60-game threshold. While it's not likely Winnipeg would overtax Hellebuyck to that extent, he has seen heavy, condensed workloads like that as recently as the 2020-21 season (45 starts in 56 games).

Can Eric Comrie lead the Jets for the next quarter of the season?

Comrie, a career backup now in his second season in Winnipeg, is playing well. In the same environment as the man many consider to be the best netminder in the sport, Comrie's numbers are comparable. His .908 save percentage is close to Hellebuyck's .913 save percentage. Comrie's goals against average is only 0.09 worse.