Connor Hellebuyck - Worst Playoff Goalie in NHL history

[ijuka]

Game 6 is not Hellebuyck at all. Goal 3 was the only softie he should've had.

Goal 1: Blues player is literally ass-to-mask on Helle, plus it's a knuckle puck shot. No chance.
Goal 2. Blues player left completely alone in the paint by Jets defender watching the game.
Goal 3: Weak glove side sieve. Should've had that one.
Goal 4: Blues player in the paint while high Jets defender allows the uncontested shot which passes by three Jets defenders with no shot block attempt.
Goal 5: Lazy turnover made worse by being screened by own defensemen.

Verdict: Piss-poor defensive effort all night by Winnipeg, who let the Blues park in front of the crease all game. They're a skilled team regular season team that just isn't built for the grind of the postseason. Hellebuyck can only stop what he can see.

Blues had 2.95 xGF while Jets had 5.25 xGF. Many of the types of shots you're giving Hellebuyck a pass on, Binnington managed to make a save on.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

This is why nobody should take the Jets seriously as a contender. Regular season team.

 

[AvroArrow]

I don't think I have ever seen something like this. A drop off THAT big, guys just horrendous in the playoffs.

 

[Gerulaitis]

There is method to Hellebuyck's madness.

Perhaps, an injury that we don't know about

 

[paragon]

Jets were a bit unlucky to face the Blues who were a .767 team in their last 30 games. If Blues wins game 7, this will be seen as a massive choke job when in reality I don't think it is as bad as the standings suggests. Sort of reminds me of 2018-19 Blues.

 

[bobholly39]

There is method to Hellebuyck's madness.

Perhaps, an injury that we don't know about

If he's injured he has no reason to be playing. That excuse simply doesn't work.

It's fine for a positional player to play if he's slightly injured and not 100% - but for a goalie, the margin for error is inexistant. If you're not at 100%, you shouldn't play, ever, and especially not in playoffs.

Jets were a bit unlucky to face the Blues who were a .767 team in their last 30 games. If Blues wins game 7, this will be seen as a massive choke job when in reality I don't think it is as bad as the standings suggests. Sort of reminds me of 2018-19 Blues.

I looked up a couple of days ago Hellebuyck's career stats vs Blues, to see if maybe it just so happens to be the one team who has his number. It's the exact opposite.

Out of all 30+ teams in the league, his numbers vs the blues rank ~top 5 or so for GAA, SV%, Wins, etc. So - if anything - it's a team whose number Hellebuyck has always had. Which makes it even worst.

And yes you're right - Blues are a decent team and maybe not your typical wildcard 2 - but it doesn't matter. It's not shocking per se that Blues are making a series out of it and pushed it to 7 games - like you say, they're not bad. But Hellebuyck's performance has been abysmal

 

[SenzZen]

Game 6 is not Hellebuyck at all. Goal 3 was the only softie he should've had.

Goal 1: Blues player is literally ass-to-mask on Helle, plus it's a knuckle puck shot. No chance.
Goal 2. Blues player left completely alone in the paint by Jets defender watching the game.
Goal 3: Weak glove side sieve. Should've had that one.
Goal 4: Blues player in the paint while high Jets defender allows the uncontested shot which passes by three Jets defenders with no shot block attempt.
Goal 5: Lazy turnover made worse by being screened by own defensemen.

Verdict: Piss-poor defensive effort all night by Winnipeg, who let the Blues park in front of the crease all game. They're a skilled team regular season team that just isn't built for the grind of the postseason. Hellebuyck can only stop what he can see.

The problem was the timing of that soft 3rd goal- it was everything in this game.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

There is method to Hellebuyck's madness.

Perhaps, an injury that we don't know about

Nah. The Avs lit him up last playoffs as well. Just continuing a trend of sucking when it matters.

 

[Stealth JD]

I don’t think Hellebuyck has been as bad as the stats indicate. The Blues have been either picking corners or setting screens and taking away his eyes. And almost all of the damage done has been in St. Louis. For as bad as the overall numbers look, he’s still won all three games in Winnipeg, which is where game 7 will be. Edge should still be with Winnipeg who has last change and the home crowd.

Only chance the Blues have is to sow doubt in the Jets by beating Hellebuyck early and often by doing what they’ve successfully done in STL. It wouldn’t hurt for somebody to drive by their bench either and say “you guys are f***ed”, like Maroon did to the Bruins in the Cup Final of ‘19.

 

[Gerulaitis]

Nah. The Avs lit him up last playoffs as well. Just continuing a trend of sucking when it matters.

A psychological barrier?

 

[WATTAGE4451]

Game 6 is not Hellebuyck at all. Goal 3 was the only softie he should've had.

Goal 1: Blues player is literally ass-to-mask on Helle, plus it's a knuckle puck shot. No chance.
Goal 2. Blues player left completely alone in the paint by Jets defender watching the game.
Goal 3: Weak glove side sieve. Should've had that one.
Goal 4: Blues player in the paint while high Jets defender allows the uncontested shot which passes by three Jets defenders with no shot block attempt.
Goal 5: Lazy turnover made worse by being screened by own defensemen.

Verdict: Piss-poor defensive effort all night by Winnipeg, who let the Blues park in front of the crease all game. They're a skilled team regular season team that just isn't built for the grind of the postseason. Hellebuyck can only stop what he can see.

I hate the phrase "no chance" because jts hyperbole because goalies regularly do save pucks like that or harder every game. Blues expectwd goals for game was only 3. Binnington made saves on several attempts as difficult as those. If the goal is just to nof let up more than one weak goal, you could ha e several ahl goalies who are capable of that performance. Goalies are expected to make difficult saves.

Also, goLies are supposednto get good positioning to see puck. Hes not adjusting at all to try and track puck through traffic. Also goal 5 was pretty weak.

 

[centipede2233]

To put into perspective how bad helle has been this playoff:

He has the worst GSAE -9.7 out of all nhl playoff goalies.
The next worst is skinner at -4.7

Helle GSAE last year playoffs was -5….

 

[Praetorian Caps]

This year hasn't helped his case.

 

[BullLund]

I don’t think Hellebuyck has been as bad as the stats indicate. The Blues have been either picking corners or setting screens and taking away his eyes. And almost all of the damage done has been in St. Louis. For as bad as the overall numbers look, he’s still won all three games in Winnipeg, which is where game 7 will be. Edge should still be with Winnipeg who has last change and the home crowd.

Only chance the Blues have is to sow doubt in the Jets by beating Hellebuyck early and often by doing what they’ve successfully done in STL. It wouldn’t hurt for somebody to drive by their bench either and say “you guys are f***ed”, like Maroon did to the Bruins in the Cup Final of ‘19.

Seems to me like Hellebuck and the Jets in general could afford to be a bit tougher in front of their net, even if it meant taking a couple of extra penalties. Blues players seem to be able to park themselves in front of him pretty effortlessly without paying a price.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Love it

 

[Louie the Blue]

I don’t think Hellebuyck has been as bad as the stats indicate. The Blues have been either picking corners or setting screens and taking away his eyes. And almost all of the damage done has been in St. Louis. For as bad as the overall numbers look, he’s still won all three games in Winnipeg, which is where game 7 will be. Edge should still be with Winnipeg who has last change and the home crowd.

Only chance the Blues have is to sow doubt in the Jets by beating Hellebuyck early and often by doing what they’ve successfully done in STL. It wouldn’t hurt for somebody to drive by their bench either and say “you guys are f***ed”, like Maroon did to the Bruins in the Cup Final of ‘19.

Here’s how I’d rate Hellebyuck’s games so far this series. I really don’t think he has played that well aside from Game 2. However, I don’t think his performance last night was all on him.

Good:
Game 2

OK:
Game 5

Bad, but not necessarily only his fault:
Game 6

Bad:
Game 1

Really bad:
Game 3
Game 4

 

[WATTAGE4451]

You want the reality? GSAx or whatever its called doesn't mean shit. They try to arbitrarily make some shots worth more than others, but reality is thats impossible. Worthless stat that Hellebuyck just happens to milk

Okay, so all shots have an equal chance of going in? Really? Besides ignoring the advanced stats, helly still has great actual sv% during the regular season too and was also great there. So by what metric is helly not among best in regular season?

 

[slapKing]

I can't believe people argued he is better than Price. Absolute insanity.

 

[Frank Drebin]

His play reminds me so much of skinner

“Screen in front, guy touched him a bit, not really his fault”

“Knucklepuck through traffic, he couldn’t see it and it had eyes “

Then there are legitimate good goals scored on both goalies where it’s a bang bang play rebound etc.


Then a huge lapse in focus and they get beat cleanly by an unscreened wrister from the circles.

Out of those 4 goals only one is “bad” but realistically every once in a while good goalies stop one or both of the first two goals too and these guys seem to let them in every game

 

[Heldig]

This is why nobody should take the Jets seriously as a contender. Regular season team.

This.

Hellebucyk is not the only player on the team that wilts under playoff hockey.

 

[End of Line]

Worst series for a goalie I’ve seen since Fleury in 2012

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I’m sure it’s happened historically, but can someone tell me another time a goalie was pulled 3 times in one series and started Game 7?

It’s a pretty unique situation.

 

[WATTAGE4451]

I don’t think Hellebuyck has been as bad as the stats indicate. The Blues have been either picking corners or setting screens and taking away his eyes. And almost all of the damage done has been in St. Louis. For as bad as the overall numbers look, he’s still won all three games in Winnipeg, which is where game 7 will be. Edge should still be with Winnipeg who has last change and the home crowd.

Only chance the Blues have is to sow doubt in the Jets by beating Hellebuyck early and often by doing what they’ve successfully done in STL. It wouldn’t hurt for somebody to drive by their bench either and say “you guys are f***ed”, like Maroon did to the Bruins in the Cup Final of ‘19.

The jetsbheld the blues to 22, 19 , and 17 shots in those 3 ganes in winnipeg. He still gave up 3 goals on 19 and 17 shots(.842 and .824 sv%) in winnipeg so its not like his performance has been great at home either other than game 2

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

The guy is weak mentally. Every goalie is going to give up goals they would like to have back. It’s how you bounce back from them. He just can’t seem to do it.

 

[Turin]

Game 6 is not Hellebuyck at all. Goal 3 was the only softie he should've had.

Goal 1: Blues player is literally ass-to-mask on Helle, plus it's a knuckle puck shot. No chance.
Goal 2. Blues player left completely alone in the paint by Jets defender watching the game.
Goal 3: Weak glove side sieve. Should've had that one.
Goal 4: Blues player in the paint while high Jets defender allows the uncontested shot which passes by three Jets defenders with no shot block attempt.
Goal 5: Lazy turnover made worse by being screened by own defensemen.

Verdict: Piss-poor defensive effort all night by Winnipeg, who let the Blues park in front of the crease all game. They're a skilled team regular season team that just isn't built for the grind of the postseason. Hellebuyck can only stop what he can see.

Hellebuyck has has an easier time than Binnington in the series overall yet his GSAA is horrendous. He has let in plenty of goals that were not screened and isn’t fighting through screens at all.