Why New Jersey Devils may not be best landing spot for Connor Hellebuyck

It was reported yesterday by TSN insider trading that Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck could be linked to the New Jersey Devils. With turmoil in Winnipeg and an explosive off-season set to take place, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the elite netminder on the move. Daily Faceoff President and insider Frank Seravalli spoke with goaltender analyst Mike McKenna about if New Jersey would be the best landing spot for Hellebuyck and how they could make it work.

Frank Seravalli: Mike, there was a report from TSN on insider trading on Tuesday that linked Connor Hellebuyck to the New Jersey Devils as potentially one of the landing spots for Hellebuyck as the Jets cruise through the trade market. While it’s an intriguing idea, what’s fascinating about the Hellebuyck issue is wherever he goes, whether it’s New Jersey or Los Angeles, or wherever it might be, you can get him at a decent rate this year, but then you need to pay him for years moving forward, and that’s going to be expensive. They’ve reported that Hellebuyck could be in the Andrei Vasilevskiy range, north of $9 million. I sort of saw him at a number lesser than that, somewhere in the $8 million range.

I don’t think teams are ready to pay a goalie that much after seeing teams struggle with the Carey Price context, etc. Maybe the suspense coming off Vegas and Adin Hill is you don’t need to pay a goalie that much in order to win a Stanley Cup and be successful. There’s only ever been one $10 million AAV player to win the Cup, and that’s Jack Eichel as a skater. Nobody has really gotten close other than Vasilevskiy in terms of being paid that much as a goalie. With that being an issue for Hellebuyck moving forward, regardless of where he stands, they have cap space, and are they willing to commit that much to a goalie knowing the other players they need to pay? 

Mike McKenna: That’s my question too. If Connor Hellebuyck wants to make over $9 million, I don’t see amongst the contenders who that is going to happen with. Like LA, how are they going to make room for him or the Pittsburgh Penguins? Can they extend him beyond one year? But New Jersey, I’m interested in here. If there’s mutual interest for both sides, would it make sense? Yes, I think it would. New Jersey wants to sharpen up their goalie; Akira Schmid is probably a year or two away and is likely headed back to Utica because he’s waiver exempt. They just extended Jesper Bratt, and they’ve got to extend Dawson Mercer.

If you want to keep Timo Meier, I don’t know how you plan on keeping Hellebuyck. He’s also 30 years old; that’s why I’m surprised the $9 million number is in play. I don’t know which team will do it. Carolina won’t spend that much money on a goalie, the only team I could potentially see that with is Ottawa, but even they have a lot of money coming at them as well. Do you see any of these teams making a play in order to keep him in the future? I don’t. I think it starts to look more middle-pack teams, and those teams aren’t contenders, so do you want to win, or do you want to get paid? That’s my question.

You can watch the full episode here…