Sabre Noise
Fansided

Buffalo Sabres: 3 reasons why it’s time to stop talking about Hellebuyck

By Sion Fawkes

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 23: Connor Hellebuyck #37 of the Winnipeg Jets in the second period at Honda Center on March 23, 2023 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 23: Connor Hellebuyck #37 of the Winnipeg Jets in the second period at Honda Center on March 23, 2023 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 3
Next
MONTREAL, CANADA – JANUARY 17: Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck #37 of the Winnipeg Jets makes a stick save near Cole Caufield #22 of the Montreal Canadiens during the second period at Centre Bell on January 17, 2023 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, CANADA – JANUARY 17: Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck #37 of the Winnipeg Jets makes a stick save near Cole Caufield #22 of the Montreal Canadiens during the second period at Centre Bell on January 17, 2023 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

2 – Hellebuyck has rarely been a proven winner

Overall, Connor Hellebuyck helped lead the Winnipeg Jets on one magical playoff run, and that occurred in 2017-18. Since 2018-19, Hellebuyck has still been one of the NHL’s better goaltenders, but he’s fringe in terms of playoff success.

Not only have the Jets won just a single playoff series since, which came during the truncated 2020-21 season, but during that time, Hellebuyck’s been very average in the net during the postseason. His quality starts percentage has sat at 0.500 or below overall in three of the Jets previous four playoff appearances.

And in this past postseason, he was unable to bail his team out. I’ve seen many talk about Hellebuyck like he’s a franchise goaltender, but he looked like anything but when the Jets lost in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights, posting an 0.886 save percentage and a 3.44 GAA.

Home/Rumors