Going public was the play
A 33-year-old goalie asking out does not leak by accident.
Connor Hellebuyck let the news out. According to Elliotte Friedman, appearing on NHL Tonight, the Winnipeg Jets netminder went public for one simple reason: to get the situation sorted before training camp opens, or at the latest before the regular season starts. Not during it. Before.
You can see the logic. A No. 1 goalie dragging a trade request around a dressing room for two months helps nobody.
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Summer slipped away, and took the best offers with it
Friedman pointed to the real snag. The options Winnipeg had before the draft, or even early in the summer, are gone now.
Florida was among the teams interested, again according to the reporter. But part of the package the Panthers would have sent to Winnipeg has since gone elsewhere. Ottawa got it for Brady Tkachuk. That door is shut.
Buffalo was the other lead. The two clubs reportedly discussed the No. 4 pick in the 2026 draft: the Jets wanted that fourth pick while keeping the eighth. The Sabres said no. That setup is off the table now, which means both sides would have to start from scratch if talks resume.
One more wrinkle matters. The no-trade lists were updated on July 1. Some players who were available to the Jets before that date may no longer be. Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, often mentioned as a possible return piece, had his five-team list kick in that day. If Winnipeg is on it, that’s that.
Five years and $8.5 million, with camp closing in
Hellebuyck still has five years left on an $8.5 million annual deal. By the end of it, he’ll be closing in on 39. That’s no small number for a team trying to build something.
Training camp is coming fast. The Jets have little time to turn a request into a trade, and the goalie market has been stripped bare over the summer. Winnipeg does not have to blink. But there’s no guarantee a goalie who wants out is going to play his best hockey either.
Watch this one over the next few weeks. For now, it all remains conditional: this is coming from insiders, not the clubs themselves.
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