Welcome To Hell: Connor Hellebuyck Is Finally On The Move After Getting Traded To The New Jersey Devils
Jonathan Kozub. Getty Images.Like pretty much everyone else on the USA men's Olympic hockey team who was stuck playing on a dog shit NHL squad, Connor Hellebuyck requested a trade over the summer. He followed the lead of guys like Brady Tkachuk and Dylan Larkin. Those guys learned the ropes previously from Quinn Hughes, who managed to get himself out of Vancouver and over to Minnesota a few months before the Olympics. Quinn Hughes was the captain in Vancouver, and forced his way back to America via a trade. Brady Tkachuk was the captain in Ottawa, and forced his way back to America via a trade. Connor Hellebuyck might not technically be the captain in Winnipeg, but he was their leader. And once again, we saw an American superstar yearn to return back on the right side of the border.
Now Kevin Cheveldayoff and the Jets weren't just going to immediately cave to Hellebuyck's request like Steve Staios did in Ottawa. They were going to make Connor Hellebuyck sweat this one out. They suspended him when it became clear that Hellebuyck wasn't going to show up for camp. He's been forfeiting over $38,000 every day he wasn't suiting up for the Jets this year, and almost hit the million mark for total salary forfeited this year.
It would have been nice to see the Jets wait until we hit that $1,000,000 milestone, but I guess enough was finally enough. The Jets finally found a deal worth pulling the trigger on for Hellebucyk, and now the Gates of Helle have been opened in New Jersey.
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So Winnipeg gets a cheap goalie back in the trade with Nico Daws. They get a middle six winger in Dawson Mercer, a high draft pick in Alexander Command, and then a couple of draft picks. Obviously the biggest thing missing here is a 1st round pick. I guess Alexander Command sort of fills that hole considering he was a 12th overall pick last year, and Winnipeg probably wouldn't get anything better with New Jersey's 1st round pick in 2027. But it's still weird to see this massive trade go down and the only picks they receive are a 2nd rounder in a couple of years, and a 7th rounder this coming summer.
The return really isn't anything crazy at all. Which isn't a knock on the Winnipeg Jets, considering they had zero leverage here. Connor Hellebuyck was willing to give up damn near a million dollars just to not play in Winnipeg, so it's not like the Jets could really play hard ball on trade negotiations. But what was every other GM in the league doing? Like every single team in the NHL could throw a replica of this package together. Every team has a Dawson Mercer. Every team has a Nico Daws. Every team has some future draft picks, and a high end guy they just recently drafted. The fact that New Jersey was able to get this trade done with THAT package just shows there weren't a ton of GMs actually trying to trade for Hellebucyk.
And now here's where things really get interesting. The New Jersey Devils are screwed as far as cap space goes right now. But there's one guy floating around out there who would obviously love to go to New Jersey to play with Connor Hellebuyck, Jack Hughes, and Luke Hughes. You would need to move a lot of big contracts around like Timo Meier and Dougie Hamilton to make it happen. But the Minnesota Wild have to be shitting their pants a little bit here seeing New Jersey load up on all of Quinn's buddies like this.