Should Connor Hellebuyck be in the HART Conversation | HFBoards - NHL Message Board and Forum for National Hockey League

Should Connor Hellebuyck be in the HART Conversation

He is leading in the wins category by 5 games. Leading in shots against, shutouts, save %, goals saved above expected, goals against average and saves.

He is the current Vezina goalie (his second), current front runner by a mile, plays against all the best teams and is the leader of the Jets and their biggest superstar. And oh ya, his team is tops in the league.

Yes he should be in the running and should be considered the favourite at this point. The Jets would be nowhere near where they are without him, and that is the definition of the Hart trophy.
 
He is leading in the wins category by 5 games. Leading in shots against, shutouts, save %, goals saved above expected, goals against average and saves.

He is the current Vezina goalie (his second), current front runner by a mile, plays against all the best teams and is the leader of the Jets and their biggest superstar. And oh ya, his team is tops in the league.

Yes he should be in the running and should be considered the favourite at this point. The Jets would be nowhere near where they are without him, and that is the definition of the Hart trophy.

Don't fully agree with the bolded. Yes, Helle's been a big part of the Jets' success but don't forget that the Jets also have scored the most goals, have the best powerplay, best goal differential, and so on. They really have it going on all over the stat sheet.


That said, I can't come up with any arguments against Hellebuyck being a Hart contender. He's just having such a great season. Here's hoping the Jets don't burn him out in the regular season again, leaving us with historical playoff Helle.



m.
 
Pretty obviously, how could anyone possibly even argue that he should not?
Because typically goalies don't win the hart, its been 9 years since one was worthy of winning one. Only 7 goalies have won it, and not until recently no one was mentioning Hellebuyck in this conversation.

And as of last month, he's still near the bottom of voting:

 
Him, Quinn Hughes, and Kaprizov should be 1-2-3 in some order right now but unfortunately voters think this is the best forward award and their are a fair amount of really good forwards in the league right now.
 
He is leading in the wins category by 5 games. Leading in shots against, shutouts, save %, goals saved above expected, goals against average and saves.

He is the current Vezina goalie (his second), current front runner by a mile, plays against all the best teams and is the leader of the Jets and their biggest superstar. And oh ya, his team is tops in the league.

Yes he should be in the running and should be considered the favourite at this point. The Jets would be nowhere near where they are without him, and that is the definition of the Hart trophy.
Disagree on the bolded. Of course they wouldn't be where they are , but there's a lot more to this team than Hellebuyck

Jets lead the league in all stregth goal differential with +49

Helle has a .930 save percentage on 854 shots, giving up 60 goals against

League wide average for save percentage is .900
If the Jets had just "average" goaltending", they'd have given up 85 goals against (or 25 more than they have now)

That would drop their goal dofferential to +24, which would put them in 4th in the league

Lost in a lot of this conversation is that the league in goals scored in addition to being wnd in goals against
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheDeuce
Disagree on the bolded. Of course they wouldn't be where they are , but there's a lot more to this team than Hellebuyck

Jets lead the league in all stregth goal differential with +49

Helle has a .930 save percentage on 854 shots, giving up 60 goals against

League wide average for save percentage is .900
If the Jets had just "average" goaltending", they'd have given up 85 goals against (or 25 more than they have now)

That would drop their goal dofferential to +24, which would put them in 4th in the league

Lost in a lot of this conversation is that the league in goals scored in addition to being wnd in goals against
So, your argument is "there is a lot more to this team than Hellebuyck" and then you note that of their goal differential of +49, Hellebuyck is responsible for over half. So, one player is responsible for over half. And the entire rest of the roster is responsible for less than half.

If you were doing this to make the point that "there is a lot more to this team than Hellebuyck," I didn't exactly get convinced.
 
Definitely will get 4th-5th place votes but a lot of Jets players are having career years and they also are slowly falling back to normal since their insane start. The special team and shooting %'s will level off. Give him the Vezina but hes not close to the Hart.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: thefutures
So, your argument is "there is a lot more to this team than Hellebuyck" and then you note that of their goal differential of +49, Hellebuyck is responsible for over half. So, one player is responsible for over half. And the entire rest of the roster is responsible for less than half.

If you were doing this to make the point that "there is a lot more to this team than Hellebuyck," I didn't exactly get convinced.
You should try re-reading my post

It was directly a reply to the poster who said "they wouldnt be anywhere near where they are"

As for "more to this team":

- leads league in power play % (pretty sure Helle has nothing to do with that)
- 8 players with 20 or more points (leads the league - pretty sure Helle has nothing to do with that)
- 2 defensemen in top 15 scoring for d men (also only team in the NHL - nothing to do with Helle)
- 3 of the top 5 lines in the NHL in GF/60
 
Usually the Art Ross winner is the #1 cantidate, but considering how close all the top forwards have all been, unless McD-Drai-Kuch-MacK all break away from the pack I could see the votes for them being split.

Helle seems to have the most compelling narrative sofar.
 
The thing about goalies is there are not that many counting stats that matter to hart voters. If he has a few bad games all those numbers can come crashing down in a hurry. This is quite different from a forward or d man who can load up on counting stats and then have a few bad games but escape the scrutiny of voters due to the counting stats still being there.

So while he is in the conversation, I wouldn’t bet on him to win it.
 
With how offensive minded the league currently is, I don't see a goalie winning the Hart any time soon again. Offence sells, goaltending doesn't.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Adam da bomb
Winning the Hart as a goalie tends to have more to do with forwards having disappointing seasons than anything else. Barring a complete collapse by the leading scorers, I don't see it.

If he keeps up this pace, he should be a finalist. He's cruising toward his third Vezina trophy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Crow
When you lay out those stats like that, yeah I can dig it for sure. Their offense is clicking pretty well, too, with five players at 0.9+ ppg and two in top15 in scoring.
 
He won't win it, and nor should he in an era that has so many talented skaters.

If all you want to do spreadsheet watch, it's hard to make an argument against him. But if you actually watch the games, the Jets make his life a lot easier than most teams do for their goalies. They play solid, responsible hockey in a way that makes them greater than the sum of their parts. The problem is, when you overachieve in the regular season you get exposed as soon as you have to play a 7 game series against a legit contender.

I know its a regular season award, but if he did win it'd sure feel like a farce when Hellebuyck and the Jets get decimated in the playoffs by a legit contender for the 3rd year in a row. And I think deep down most voters know this.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: blueandgoldguy

Users who are viewing this thread

Ad

Ad