Reports Suggest Connor Hellebuyck Won't Report to Camp, Insider Says Interest Has Been "Minimal"
· Yahoo Sports
The Connor Hellebuyck situation shows no signs of slowing down as the Winnipeg Jets prepare to open training camp, and the latest word from TSN's Darren Dreger isn't doing much to ease the tension.
Speaking on TSN's Insider Trading Tuesday, Dreger said the level of interest around the league in Hellebuyck has cooled off considerably since the draft, reinforcing earlier reporting that Winnipeg simply hasn't been fielding serious offers for its three time Vezina Trophy winner.
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With the Jets set to open camp Thursday, Dreger doesn't expect Hellebuyck to be there. He added that the organization plans to address the situation publicly sometime Wednesday or Thursday, right as the rest of the team gets to work.
On a radio appearance, Dreger dug into why the market has been so thin. Most contending teams already trust the goaltender they have, so for them, a player like Hellebuyck would represent a luxury rather than a necessity.
That dynamic has left Winnipeg fielding offers from clubs looking to add him on the cheap, wanting him "at a discount price, want a bargain basement return," in Dreger's words, rather than paying what a player of his caliber would normally command.
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman added more context last Thursday on his 32 Thoughts podcast, revealing that the Florida Panthers were among the teams that had put forward an offer earlier in the process. Since then, though, several of the pieces believed to be part of that package have been moved elsewhere, including draft capital that went to Ottawa in the Brady Tkachuk trade, along with Florida sending Evan Rodrigues to New Jersey instead.
Complicating things further, Friedman pointed out that no trade lists reset on July 1, meaning some players who might have once been available in a Hellebuyck package may have since added Winnipeg to their own list of teams they won't accept a trade to.
As for where Hellebuyck could still land, Friedman named the Buffalo Sabres, Utah Mammoth and Carolina Hurricanes as the most realistic remaining fits, while saying he's less sure about where the New Jersey Devils stand.
A few other teams remain worth watching. Buffalo already came close to landing Hellebuyck at last season's trade deadline. Vegas has an unsettled tandem in Carter Hart and Adin Hill and both the need and the NHL ready assets to put together a package Winnipeg might actually like.
Los Angeles is staring down an offseason where 36-year-old Darcy Kuemper hits free agency, making a Hellebuyck arrival an easy sell in a market like that. And New Jersey remains one of the more obvious fits on paper, with just veteran Jake Allen and unproven Nico Daws currently penciled in, plus the added bonus of putting Hellebuyck closer to his family back in Michigan.
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