Connor Hellebuyck - Worst Playoff Goalie in NHL history

[Louie the Blue]

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

What’s funny is Hellebuyck’s save % is notably lower than Fleury’s.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

There is method to Hellebuyck's madness.

Perhaps, an injury that we don't know about

Those 3 year nagging injuries that only affect a player in the playoffs are a bitch

 

[Hank Chinaski]

If he loses game 7, even by a reasonable score, I don’t see how he doesn’t have a Luongo-type reputation going forward. Putting up these numbers in the first round on a President’s Trophy team is a disaster.

That’s probably the closest comparison, but as others have alluded, Luongo was never quite this ineffective come playoff time.

His last three playoff campaigns have been reminiscent of Jim Carey in the mid 90s. I can’t recall a similar gulf between regular season and playoff performance.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Those 3 year nagging injuries that only affect a player in the playoffs are a bitch

Auston Matthews Disease

 

[Fatass]

As a Canucks fan who wanted them to put Schneider in over Luongo in game 7 and still thinks they would have won the Cup if they did - the Jets coach needs to grow a pair and put Comrie in game 7. This could be the difference between another crushing loss or possibly a trip to to the finals. Sometimes you gotta just try something different and not worry about hurting feelings.

Did Luongo win a Vezina? Luongo got his club to the Cup Final as well.
Helly is about to have 3 Vezinas for his phenomenal regular season play. And he’s about to be embarrassingly bad in the post season again.

 

[ViD]

To be fair to Bob, over his 10+ play off appearances, his SV% dropped below 900 only twice

 

[JKG33]

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?

They dont all have an equal chance of going in. But Hellebuyck gives up a lot of rebounds where because of how deep in his net he plays, just end up getting wacked at a few times before he finally covers them. Those kind of plays inflate the stats yet in no way are they genuinely "high danger."

Hellebuyck's SV% if you wanna sort by that wasnt nearly as otherworldly as people are suggesting. Lots of mid goalies that play on strong defensive teams have inflated numbers relative to what they are. Dime a dozen backups like Elliott and Niemi made entire careers out of it. On the higher end, someone like Crawford is a great comparison. Mediocre goalie that's been fortunate to have played in a situation very beneficial to goalies.

I look at someone like Gibson who id take over Hellebuyck quite easily. Swap teams and Hellebuyck would look like shit too

 

[JKG33]

There is method to Hellebuyck's madness.

Perhaps, an injury that we don't know about

An injury 3 playoffs in a row?

 

[tarheelhockey]

An injury 3 playoffs in a row?

Have you seen Freddie Andersen?

 

[Nicko999]

I do not want to hear Helleybuck being compared to Price ever again.

 

[JKG33]

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.

Were they really that unlucky? Look up and down the western conference and tell me.. who would the Jets beat?

Vegas, Colorado, Dallas... f*** no. Edmonton.. probably not. LA as bad as they are in the playoffs have been a horrible matchup for Winnipeg. And Minnesota got healthy and gave Vegas a scare to the point where they'd probably beat Winnipeg too.

I'd say theyre very fortunate their regular season record got them the Blues, because I can't see them even getting a game 7 opportunity against most of the rest of the west.

Now if they were in the garbage conference out east.. sure they'd probably win a round or two unless they got a team from the state of Florida.

 

[Misery74]

That’s probably the closest comparison, but as others have alluded, Luongo was never quite this ineffective come playoff time.

His last three playoff campaigns have been reminiscent of Jim Carey in the mid 90s. I can’t recall a similar gulf between regular season and playoff performance.

Jim Carey was the guy I thought of as well. He may have actually won a Hart Trophy.

Mario Lemieux broke him.

 

[JKG33]

What’s funny is Hellebuyck’s save % is notably lower than Fleury’s.

This. Every example of horrible playoff goaltending people are coming up with (Bob, Fleury, Luongo...) have still been significantly better than Hellebuyck

 

[JKG33]

Have you seen Freddie Andersen?

Yes. He's also not playing 60+ games every regular season, hes injured then too lol. His playoff injuries are shocking to nobody

 

[Kaner9]

I do not want to hear Helleybuck being compared to Price ever again.

Playoff helly is about as good as price. 2025 Price.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Playoff helly is about as good as price. 2025 Price.

2025 Price has allowed 0 goals this entire regular season and playoffs

 

[Strangle]

Why does a goalie get a pass when he “can’t see the shot”?

It’s part of the goalies job to find the puck and keep it in his sight. If he’s lost it, he didn’t do his job

 

[Summer Rose]

Why does a goalie get a pass when he “can’t see the shot”?

It’s part of the goalies job to find the puck and keep it in his sight. If he’s lost it, he didn’t do his job

Yeah... a large part of goaltending when you can't see the puck is to try to read the play instead and anticipate where the shot will be coming from, then position yourself accordingly. You're playing a chance game at that point, hoping that your read and positioning are correct, which will result in the shot hitting you (or even flat out discouraging your opponent from shooting in the first place). A well-placed shot will still beat you, but on some of the goals by St. Louis, it has not appeared to be the case that Hellebuyck's read and resultant positioning were good.

 

[ViD]

Igor Shesterkin career play off SV% is 0.928%

 

[MoPucks]

I thought the first goal last night was pretty weak as well. Yeah, he's got traffic in front but he slid out of the net for no reason. That shot was dead center in the middle of the net.

The Schenn goal is just a backbreaker. They should have pulled him immediately after that one.

He's actually made some huge saves in this series, it could be way worse if those go in. I don't think I've ever seen a guy lose it so fast in the post season as what we are witnessing here.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Were they really that unlucky? Look up and down the western conference and tell me.. who would the Jets beat?

Vegas, Colorado, Dallas... f*** no. Edmonton.. probably not. LA as bad as they are in the playoffs have been a horrible matchup for Winnipeg. And Minnesota got healthy and gave Vegas a scare to the point where they'd probably beat Winnipeg too.

I'd say theyre very fortunate their regular season record got them the Blues, because I can't see them even getting a game 7 opportunity against most of the rest of the west.

Now if they were in the garbage conference out east.. sure they'd probably win a round or two unless they got a team from the state of Florida.

The west doesn't have an elite top team, but all 8 playoff teams are worthy and none of them would have been a surprise in the 2nd round. I actually thought Edmonton was the most fragile looking prior to the post-season.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

2025 Price has allowed 0 goals this entire regular season and playoffs

And he's right in line with his expected goals.

 

[JKG33]

The west doesn't have an elite top team, but all 8 playoff teams are worthy and none of them would have been a surprise in the 2nd round. I actually thought Edmonton was the most fragile looking prior to the post-season.

Vegas and the winner of Colorado/Dallas absolutely belong in the conversation with Florida. And the loser of Colorado/Dallas in the 2nd tier with TB.

But beyond the Florida teams, the east is ass. To the point where id probably even take the 2nd tier of western teams (Winnipeg/LA/Minnesota/StLouis) over all of the non Florida east teams

 

[DRW895]

Worst righ now - yes.
Ever - how can we exactly know? NHL is over 100 years old, SC is over 130 years!

 

[Jumptheshark]

Stu Skinner says hello to this thread