Player Discussion: 2024 Vezina Finalist Connor Hellebuyck

[FlyerNutter]

He’s beat up mentally.

One can see that with how deep he is playing. Is that his own confidence in himself? Or that with his team?

I’d wager both are true. I can’t say any goaltender would perform well with how the Blues have essentially dominated the ice in games 3+4.

The dominate the front of the net. Some credit has to be given to the Blues here, they have size up front - and are running over that Winnipeg defense.

 

[Goodette]

Hellebuyck... is more likely to get his game back and go on a run rather than expecting Comrie who got ran out of Buffalo to take you to the promised land.

Helle doesn't seem to me to be the "go on a run" type. He's consistent, safe and sound technically. He's not the play over his head type. Pucks hit him because he is large and in the right spot and then he swallows the rebound. The spectacular save is a rarity for him. All I really want is no soft goals.

What Comrie would bring is motivation for the rest of the team to keep the shots against down. He is a more active goaltender. All a moot point since Arniel already has said it's going to be Helle. He said another thing that I thought was pretty smart, his words:

At the end of the day, we need to be better in front of him. We need to let him see some pucks. There were a couple there we didn't let him see. There's things that we have to do to help him. He knows he has to do things that help us. And that's how it's been all year long. We're all in this together."

Motivates without finger pointing at any one thing in particular. It does somewhat confirm the theory that helle has to try harder to see the shots. I counted 3 times the hits for the Blues than what they would have had as a regular season average. I assume screens are about the same. They've admitted they try to screen and blast from the point as a strategy. It's killing us.

 

[Buffdog]

Pains me to write this and I'm hoping I am premature. If Helle plays no better than he has then a trade is the best for all concerned, the player, the fans and the franchise. That's the outcome of an early exit. Still optimistic but we MUST win game 5 or forget it.

I think the only way Helle gets moved is if he asks for it

His play aside, trading a guy who was drafted and developed by the the org and then committing to them for the rest of his career with a long term contract sends a terrible message to other guys who follow behind him

TNSE is nothing if not loyal, as they have to be in the market we're in

 

[Victorias]

I'm not saying Comrie specifically, yet you are right, that's all the Jets have in reserve. What I said though was... if the other 15 playoff teams had their starting goalies playing like Helly the last 2 games , they would all be looking at starting their backups in the 5th game, no matter who their backups are. It may be wrong, but I would say most teams would do it just to try something.

The problem the Jets have, and specifically with Comrie, is the Jets knew this could happen. The Jets knew based on past history that Helly could struggle, but there was also a chance he could just get hurt... and the Jets went out and signed the wrong backup for either scenario.

The Jets are staying with Helly, because he should be able to play well in the playoffs eventually, given enough opportunities. Even though just 2 quality starts in the last 14 playoff games he has appeared in say otherwise.

I’m not sure about that. Ullmark has an even worse playoff track record than Helle and nowhere close to the regular season accolades and Ottawa is sticking with him.

The other star goalies in the playoffs are Vasilevski, Oettinger, Bobrovsky, and Markstrom. I think only the latter two would have any chance of getting benched and that’s because those teams have backups (Vanecek and Allen respectively) who have ever even been tandem starters.

Like Winnipeg, TB and Dallas have true backups behind their number 1’s and it makes sense - why pay a guy 1b money to barely play?

Comrie hit his career high this year with…20 games. I don’t think he’s even played 3 games in a week since Junior and you would be expecting him to do that for the next month or more.

If the Jets start clearing the net front and Helle gets his confidence back (both in himself and his team), the Jets can gain momentum in these last 2-3 games against the Blues. Maybe Helle then dominates the Avs/Stars the way he did during the regular season. With Comrie (or any backup), you’re looking at a bandaid solution.

When the Jets signed Helle to that contract, they tied their fate to him and I’m fine with that.

 

[PhilJets]

I don’t buy it when people say he is big and the puck hits him.
Out of position for someone that is the most technically goalie now.

there are also a a lot of big or as big as Helly.

Helly’s been doing this since his collage years and how many years with the Jets. It cant be he is a product of the system.

But yeah he to needs BIG to step up because he is the MVP of the team. He needs to carry the team.

But the whole team also is out of whack for back to back series now after their superior regular season.

You can see if Helly is not playing to his standard. The team is f&:&:

He is the MVP of the regular season

now he needs to do it during the playoff

 

[cbcwpg]

Watching the Tampa / Florida games makes me think the Jets / St. Louis series would already be over in favour of the Jets with either of those goalies in the Jets net. Jets solid defence with goalie Bob…

 

[Hobble]

Watching the Tampa / Florida games makes me think the Jets / St. Louis series would already be over in favour of the Jets with either of those goalies in the Jets net.

Even with Vasilevky after that last goal?

 

[cbcwpg]

Even with Vasilevky after that last goal?

LOL… still. Some of the saves Vas and goalie Bob have made are insane

 

[ps241]

Watching the Tampa / Florida games makes me think the Jets / St. Louis series would already be over in favour of the Jets with either of those goalies in the Jets net. Jets solid defence with goalie Bob…

Vasilevskiy rocking the .888 save % this playoff so far…….Darcey Kemper with the .881, only to be outdone but Helle who will win the vezina rocking the .817

Really rough start to the post season for the big three finalists “so far”.

 

[Goodette]

I think the only way Helle gets moved is if he asks for it

His play aside, trading a guy who was drafted and developed by the the org and then committing to them for the rest of his career with a long term contract sends a terrible message to other guys who follow behind him

TNSE is nothing if not loyal, as they have to be in the market we're in

I would say that's a good point but if the fans don't come back as happened at the start of this year management would have no choice. Anyway the player might benefit from a change of scenery also so it could be mutual.

Just win baby, and it all goes away. That's what I want. It's what we all want.

 

[Victorias]

Save of the playoffs indeed

 

[gojetsgo]

 

[Channelcat]

Save of the playoffs indeed

Incredible save! But let's be honest.....that was another poor performance. 842?

If we can keep them to less than 20 shots we might be ok, but I admit, I'm worried still.

 

[Victorias]

Incredible save! But let's be honest.....that was another poor performance. 842?

If we can keep them to less than 20 shots we might be ok, but I admit, I'm worried still.

Yeah, the soft second goal erased the value of this save.

However, I don’t know if the first and third goals were stoppable - he was heavily screened on the first and the third resulted from a shot in tight that he didn’t have enough reaction time to direct further from goal.

If he makes the one save on Snuggerud, it’s an above average performance (GSaX of .8 or so).

They just need to clear the net front.

 

[Haywire]

Why doesn't Helle ever crosscheck or chop the guys standing in his paint blocking his view, a la Mike Smith?
Is he a pacifist? Sometimes he's too chill.

 

[PhilJets]

Why doesn't Helle ever crosscheck or chop the guys standing in his paint blocking his view, a la Mike Smith?
Is he a pacifist? Sometimes he's too chill.

Like all our JETS top 4 players...

JMO
Scheifele
KFC
Helly

Wish one of them has a mean streak but hey..... They are a great set of leaders for our Jets... supporting Lowry...

 

[cbcwpg]

Why doesn't Helle ever crosscheck or chop the guys standing in his paint blocking his view, a la Mike Smith?
Is he a pacifist? Sometimes he's too chill.

My guess. Helly believes that if he avoids physical confrontation ( ie: doing what you suggest ) that he will get the benefit of the doubt if their is goaltender interference. I tend to agree. If a goalie is known to wack and hack players in his crease, then how does the ref ever know it wasn't the goalie that initiated the contact.

 

[Jet]

My guess. Helly believes that if he avoids physical confrontation ( ie: doing what you suggest ) that he will get the benefit of the doubt if their is goaltender interference. I tend to agree. If a goalie is known to wack and hack players in his crease, then how does the ref ever know it wasn't the goalie that initiated the contact.

I was surprised that the Blues haven't taken runs at Hellebuyck til I thought about it and realized why would they want to take out an .800 goalie

 

[Haywire]

My guess. Helly believes that if he avoids physical confrontation ( ie: doing what you suggest ) that he will get the benefit of the doubt if their is goaltender interference. I tend to agree. If a goalie is known to wack and hack players in his crease, then how does the ref ever know it wasn't the goalie that initiated the contact.

At this point, he needs to take that chance. His defense sure ain't doing it for him.

 

[DRW204]

guy blows

 

[Bob E]

guy blows
View attachment 1028741

Wasn't 2020 the play-in round where they lost to Calgary, and 2021 was the all-Canadian division where they lost to Montreal in the 2nd round, and this year is 2025 or is the last year on the chart really last year?

Point still remains that the last three years is not a typical stat line for Helle. Definitely has to be in his head. Consistent with those down years is smaller D men in their top 4. Morrissey, DeMelo and Pionk all relatively small dmen. If they do lose on Sunday, that might be an area to look at, in particular DeMelo's spot in top 4. Both Morrissey and Pionk seem to be here for awhile in a top 4 role, so adding another big guy that can play might be where they look to add. Moving DeMelo to a 3rd pairing.

I wonder if a guy like Ekblad would still be a UFA in the summer and would the Jets be interested? Would Ekblad be interested in the Jets? Pairing him with Morrissey might work well. A Morrissey/Ekblad, Samberg/Pionk would have some size to go along with skill. Ekblad's injury history would concern me a bit, so keeping DeMelo to fill in during the reg season in the top 4 when Ekblad is no doubt out, would be important.

 

[DRW204]

Wasn't 2020 the play-in round where they lost to Calgary, and 2021 was the all-Canadian division where they lost to Montreal in the 2nd round, and this year is 2025 or is the last year on the chart really last year?

Point still remains that the last three years is not a typical stat line for Helle. Definitely has to be in his head. Consistent with those down years is smaller D men in their top 4. Morrissey, DeMelo and Pionk all relatively small dmen. If they do lose on Sunday, that might be an area to look at, in particular DeMelo's spot in top 4. Both Morrissey and Pionk seem to be here for awhile in a top 4 role, so adding another big guy that can play might be where they look to add. Moving DeMelo to a 3rd pairing.

I wonder if a guy like Ekblad would still be a UFA in the summer and would the Jets be interested? Would Ekblad be interested in the Jets? Pairing him with Morrissey might work well. A Morrissey/Ekblad, Samberg/Pionk would have some size to go along with skill. Ekblad's injury history would concern me a bit, so keeping DeMelo to fill in during the reg season in the top 4 when Ekblad is no doubt out, would be important.

Season on the bottom would be season start years. So it'd be the 2024-2025 season, probably should be clearer.

 

[tbcwpg]

I wonder if a guy like Ekblad would still be a UFA in the summer and would the Jets be interested? Would Ekblad be interested in the Jets? Pairing him with Morrissey might work well. A Morrissey/Ekblad, Samberg/Pionk would have some size to go along with skill. Ekblad's injury history would concern me a bit, so keeping DeMelo to fill in during the reg season in the top 4 when Ekblad is no doubt out, would be important.

The answer to your folded questions, in order, are yes, and pretty unlikely.

 

[surixon]

The answer to your folded questions, in order, are yes, and pretty unlikely.

He did play junior hockey with Scheifele. Maybe he can sell him on coming here.