The Winnipeg Jets have turned into one of the better teams to watch in the NHL, and it is not just striking gold in their Top 10 picks. They dove deep to find a Michigan native who they hoped would develop into a reliable goaltender, and that pick has been the key toward making the Jets playoff contenders through December.
In a draft in which the best players came in the mid-first round and middle rounds, Connor Hellebuyck has developed into a dark horse contender for the Vezina Trophy in a season in which one goalie from the same draft has made his own case. Andrei Vasilevskiy, the first goalie taken in the 2012 draft, looks to be the frontrunner for a Lightning squad that is also tearing the league up on offense. While none of them are the designated starters for their respective teams, Vegas’ Malcolm Subban and Oscar Dansk, along with Columbus’s Joonas Korpisalo, have also shown flashes of greatness in their short tenures in the NHL.
Hellebuyck, however, is more similar to Vasilevakiy in that he had been in the NHL for a couple of seasons before taking the reins this 2017-2018. The differences end there because the certainties of the direction Tampa Bay and Winnipeg would go with the starting goalie position varied.
The Jets had struggled finding a reliable starting goaltender ever since their previous playoff appearance. Longtime Atlanta/Winnipeg starter Ondrej Pavelec was exceptional in Winnipeg’s first playoff trip under the new franchise, but he could not replicate it in his final two years with the team before becoming the backup with the New York Rangers. That opened the door for Hellebuyck, who turned himself into a flashy prospect with a .946 save percentage while at UMASS Lowell for two seasons.
His first full season in the NHL did not go as hoped, with his GAA just under 2.90, as the defense prevented the rejuvenated Jets from making the postseason in Patrik Laine’s rookie season.
This season, the offense continues to run through opposing defenses with outstanding power play production from Laine and other deserved star Mark Scheifele. The leadership of Blake Wheeler, along with increased production from Nikolaj Ehlers and rookie Kyle Connor, has also helped an offense that is finally benefitting from its load of depth.
It is Hellebuyck, however, who has transformed the Jets into a serious competitor with St. Louis and Nashville at the top of the Central Division. This was a team that was planning on using Steve Mason as the top goalie, but his horrendous start to the season caused a change, and Hellebuyck has not given Paul Maurice any reason to revert to the original plan. He has just one instance where he lost consecutive starts, and that was in road losses to Tampa Bay and Detroit earlier in December.
He helped the Jets get points in each of his first eight starts, including saving 37 shots in his first start of the season in Edmonton. On Dec. 17, he picked up his second shutout of the season in a crucial divisional game against St. Louis to help Winnipeg split the home-and-home series. They would eventually cause a tie for first in the Central Division after knocking off the Predators in a big road.
Even in a losing effort on Dec. 21, Hellebuyck gave the Boston crowd a show. He tempered the rookie sensations, along with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, to just one goal early in the third period, and the Bruins needed four shootout rounds to finally defeat Hellebuyck, who has just four regulation losses in 27 starts this season.
After relying on Pavelec from before the team relocated from Atlanta to 2016, the Jets moved on to make a stronger push for a playoff spot in the long run. While there is still plenty of work to do to fend off teams like Dallas and Chicago, Winnipeg may have found just what they needed to make the final push for late April games. Hellebuyck might not be a household name in the NHL, especially since former first-round pick Vasilevskiy has impressed for the best team in the NHL, but he has turned the defense into a much bigger threat. With both sides of the team succeeding through two and a half months, the Jets may have finally found their recipe for being a consistent playoff team.