Devils handled Hellebuyck return to Winnipeg in the worst way possible

The NHL’s regular season can feel like a slog at times, but even during the newly 84-game marathon, certain matchups stand out from the schedule as must-watch events. Bad blood left over from a playoff series, superstars facing off, or a classic rivalry are all reasons a fan might circle a specific game on the calendar. Anyone who watched Brady Tkachuk play in Ottawa earlier this season knows, however, that a prominent player coming back to face his former team for the first time can make for some of the best regular-season theater.

It seemed we were going to get another of those compelling fixtures on Tuesday, with goaltender Connor Hellebuyck returning to face the Winnipeg Jets for the first time since forcing a trade to the New Jersey Devils. The Devils, though, decided to pull the plug on the whole affair, announcing that Hellebuyck will not start in Winnipeg while citing some baffling reason about “win probability” as their rationale. This is despite New Jersey having days off before and after Tuesday’s game.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton were joined by Jason Gregor and Jesse Montano to discuss the Devils’ decision to keep Hellebuyck out of Tuesday’s game in Winnipeg.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Gregs, what was your initial reaction to that doozy of a statement from (general manager Sunny) Mehta and the Devils?

Jason Gregor: The only thing more comical than the statement are the people who are trying to defend the statement. “No, no, divisional games are more important.” Well look at their last five games, the only divisional game they had was the Islanders, and that’s the one Hellebuyck didn’t play for goodness sake. He’s played three games, none back-to-back, and one where he had two days off between games. You’re trying to protect him from getting booed. Just say the truth, you’re trying to protect him. I think the expected win percentage thing is not going to go over very well at all. I don’t buy the argument that this decision helps them in the playoffs. Give me a break, there’s no correlation between today and the playoffs. It’s a bad decision and the press release was worse.

Tyler Yaremchuk: It’s horrible. Hutts, I’ll let you go for a second, but what’s ironic about this whole thing is, because Hutts you’ve played in that barn, by saying they’re protecting him from playing, they might actually be putting him in a worse spot.

Carter Hutton: I think it might be worse. When you play in Winnipeg, you come out a tunnel that is in the defensive zone that you defend twice. It would be in Hellebuyck’s right-side blocker corner. When you’re backing up, in nights when I’ve backed up in Winnipeg, you sit right against the glass, against the door, where you have access right to a covered tunnel, but fans come down to you. You don’t know how many times I was there and a kid would come down and you talk to him and give him a puck. That was different when you had a rapport with fanbase, but not right now if Connor Hellebuyck is going to sit there. So what you’re telling me is you’re not even going to bring him out, he’s going to sit in the tunnel.

If your goal is to protect him from booing, do you not think the fans are just going to be more creative with the way they boo? The whole game is going to be a mess either way, why wouldn’t you just put him in? He wants to play, face the music. Running the analytics and the numbers and putting that out to the public, this is hockey. Just own it, it is what it is. Play the game, move forward, life goes on.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Monday’s episode here…