Why can’t Connor Hellebuyck perform in the playoffs?

Connor Hellebuyck was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy in 2025 earlier on Monday, and many expect him to be the runaway favorite.

But come playoff time? The Winnipeg Jets goaltender has repeatedly struggled to perform. The Jets have played some decent hockey, but Hellebuyck has mightily struggled to steal games against the St. Louis Blues as the series sits at 2-2.

On the latest episode of Daily Faceoff Live with Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli, the pair chatted about what’s going on with the future Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender:

Tyler Yaremchuk: “Speaking of here we go again, that’s got to be the feeling a little bit with the Winnipeg Jets and Connor Hellebuyck. Frank, out of the 16 goalies who played three or more games in these playoffs, he is now dead last and save percentage and his save percentage is 31 points lower than the second-worst goalie. It has just been a total collapse in Games 3 and 4. Coming into these playoffs, I was pushing back on the playoff Hellebuck narrative. I was sitting there going, ‘listen, sometimes these things are random.’ You can go back to his first playoff runs where he was so good, but now you’re sitting here and it’s almost like… okay, at some point the sample size is too big to say it’s just a fluke. The playoff Connor Hellebuyck narrative, Frank, it’s legit.

Frank Seravalli: “It seems like there’s something to that. As much as I hate saying that because you watch the way Game 1 started – three goals on 10 shots. And then he was really good in the second period, third period, and all three periods of the next game. And then he fell apart in St. Louis. And I gotta be honest, the one big shocking thing for me watching the Winnipeg Jets in St. Louis was not just Hellebuyck’s body language and the way that he played and how disinterested he looked at times, but also the entire team. Their commitment to defend all those things that have been hallmarks for that team all season long, evaporated, blew up, gone out the window.

“And that part is really surprising because the Jets had the ability to make this a short series. They survived that game one scare. They were clinical in game two. And you’re thinking going to St. Louis for game three, do the Blues really even have a shot here? And they come out and they roll the Jets in two games. And that part to me, I don’t know, it’s not just a Helleybuck thing, but what happened to the rest of the Jets team an .817 save percentage obviously isn’t going to cut it, but I’ve seen some wild takes out there, especially on social media the last few days. Do the Jets to have to turn to Eric Comrie here for Game 5? There’s no way you can do that, right?”

Tyler Yaremchuk: “Zero chance. You live and die with Connor Helleybuck. If you’re going to play the guy 60-plus games in the regular season, just to park him on the bench, cause he has two bad games in the playoffs, that would be insanity. You have to keep going to him and just hope he snaps out of it. What was your line this morning on the DFO Rundown? You hope he just kind of twists his right leg the right way and goes, ‘Oh yeah, I’m a Vezina caliber goalie.'”

Frank Seravalli: “Yeah. And that’s the scary part. If you’re the St. Louis blues is that’s entirely possible that he gets his head screwed on straight. Do the Winnipeg Jets need him to win this series? No, they don’t. I think they’re a good enough team without him to be able to survive in spite of him. That’s not going to the rest of their Cup run. Chances are it isn’t going to be able to work out that way. But I think Winnipeg has such an advantage over St. Louis positionally that they should be able to put things together. But the rest of the team has to wake up too. And they all can’t sag around Connor Hellebuyck letting in goals that he shouldn’t.”

Tyler Yaremchuk: “It is just absolutely mind-blowing to me again that we’re talking about a guy who’s so good in the regular season. And here we are, Game 4. And as I said off the jump, he has by far the worst save percentage amongst goalies in the NHL.”

You can watch the full episode below: