The saga between Vezina and Hart Trophy Connor Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets has reached critical mass, as the Olympic gold medal-winner failed to report to training camp, and was subsequently suspended by the Jets. The 33-year-old goalie reportedly requested a trade after the regular season, but GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has been unable to get an offer that he deemed equal value.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and TSN’s Pierre LeBrun indicated last week that the Florida Panthers pursued Hellebuyck, but traded assets that were offered in the proposed trade to Ottawa for winger Brady Tkachuk and to New Jersey for goalie Jacob Markstrom. They also reported that three clubs; the Buffalo Sabres, Utah Mammoth, and Carolina Hurricanes are still in the mix for the veteran netminder, who has five years left on his contract at $8.5 million per season.
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Where will Connor Hellebuyck end up?
The Sabres reportedly came closest to pulling off a trade for Hellebuyck, but as to how close they came, is open to interpretation. Friedman said on this week’s 32 Thoughts podcast that the Jets wanted the fourth overall pick that Buffalo obtained in the Bowen Byram deal, and did not want to give up the eighth overall pick, which they used to select Swedish forward Viggo Bjorck.
The biggest potential impediment to a deal now is that Friedman believes that Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has put the Jets on his five-team no-trade clause, and with Winnipeg wanting a goalie in return in the deal for Hellebuyck, that would seem to put Buffalo as a longshot as his final destination.
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