Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck looks back at stellar season, playoff disappointment

Connor Hellebuyck is of two minds when taking stock of last season.

The Winnipeg Jets goaltender put up gaudy numbers that helped his team top the NHL’s regular-season standings and secure the franchise’s first Presidents’ Trophy.

Hellebuyck’s performance across the 82-game schedule earned him the Hart Trophy as league MVP — the first netminder to win the award since Carey Price in 2014-15 — along with his third Vezina Trophy.

He was stellar in the regular season with a 47-12-3 record, .925 save percentage and 2.00 goals-against average.

Making the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off with the United States was another highlight for Hellebuyck, who is from Commerce, Mich., as the league prepares for its Olympic return at the 2026 Games.

And then there were the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Hellebuyck and the Jets made the second round, but needed some late heroics to beat the St. Louis Blues in seven games before falling to the Dallas Stars in six. He allowed a combined 39 goals across 13 post-season contests — including 19 goals between Games 3 and 6 of the St. Louis series — for a pedestrian .866 save percentage and 3.08 GAA.

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“Our consistency was there all year long, our confidence was there all year long,” the 32-year-old said this week at the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas. “Then we got into the playoffs … it didn’t go perfect for me, but I had some stuff going on. You battle through it, you learn (from) it.

“Unless you win the Cup, it’s a failure.”

Hellebuyck, who did register two shutouts in the Dallas series, including in Game 5 with Winnipeg facing elimination, took “a big look” at his game heading into the post-season — including making some “tweaks” — before pivoting back to the crease foundation he’s built over the last decade.

“I didn’t like the look of the game,” the 130th pick at the 2012 NHL draft said of the changes. “I thought I was out of what makes me, me.”

Hellebuyck, however, chooses to look at the entire body of work last spring — his third straight playoffs with a sub-.890 save percentage.

“I know there were a couple bad games in there goals-against wise,” he said. “But if we take those out of the picture, I felt like I had a good playoffs. It’s just those big losses are going to make everything else seem so much worse.”

Hellebuyck, who also won the Vezina in 2019-20 and 2023-24, still took plenty of positives as the Jets turn to a second season under head coach Scott Arniel.

“You just see a huge improvement and a lot more consistency in our game,” he said. “Looking at that, I was really excited. Myself, personally, I’m part of that. I’m building consistency within our system.”

That system will now include centre and three-time Stanley Cup champion Jonathan Toews, who signed in his hometown after missing two seasons with symptoms of long COVID and chronic immune response syndrome.

“I’m excited for the journey with him,” Hellebuyck said. “He offers a lot to our team, great veteran status. I’m excited to see where his game’s at after so much time off, and hearing about his journey of getting back.”

“He’s going to fit well with our team.”

A team that Hellebuyck knows has unfinished business.

“It doesn’t matter how far you make it,” he said. “You’re always looking for what’s going to get you to the next step. And that’s where we are now.”

The Ottawa Senators made the playoffs last spring for the first time since 2017 before falling to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games.

Acquired from the Boston Bruins via trade in June 2024, goaltender Linus Ullmark said the expectations are high in the nation’s capital.

“It comes down to knowing that we have the capacity to do it again,” said the 2022-23 Vezina winner. “But also (being humble) to understand that it’s not going to be automatic.”

Calgary Flames netminder Dustin Wolf, who this week signed a seven-year, US$52.5-million contract extension, wasn’t invited to the U.S. Olympic orientation camp last month.

Getting passed on is also nothing new for the six-foot, 166-pounder from Gilroy, Calif.

“It just creates fire,” said Wolf, a seventh-round pick at the 2019 draft largely because of his size. “I’ve been the guy that’s been looked over so much in my career.

“You want to prove people wrong.”