Despite winning the Presidents' Trophy just one year ago, the Winnipeg Jets are still facing major questions surrounding their rosters. Namely, goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is at the center of relatively justified trade talk after a significant drop in his performance; while his goals against average was still below three goals per game (2.86), his save percentage dipped below .900 after he recorded at least a .920 in each of the previous three campaigns.
But even as he approaches his age-33 season, we can still see flashes of his brilliance. And Elliotte Friedman recently commented on the second installment of the Hellebuyck drama, taking note of past performances like the gold medal game against Canada and using it to reinforce the point that, even after a rough 2025-26 campaign for both sides, keeping Hellebuyck might be considerably harder this time around.
While Hellebuyck, unlike the first installment of this saga, is currently locked into a deal that pays him $8.5 million annually until the end of the 2030-31 campaign, the state of the Central Division doesn't exactly paint an optimistic path back to the playoffs. Whatever is happening to the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final aside, the Avs, Dallas Stars, and Minnesota Wild are all expected to contend once again, which will more than likely pit the division's remaining five teams against one another for pole position in the Wild Card race.
If the Jets can't keep up or put themselves in position to do so, it might be time to say goodbye to Hellebuyck.
Do the Buffalo Sabres fit into the trade rumors? And do they make sense?
With the Hellebuyck rumors gaining speed faster than Ferrari's start line getaways, teams have already been linked as potential suitors for such a trade.
The Buffalo Sabres are now one of those teams. While on Daily Faceoff, Jeff Marek claimed that the Sabres could make a major move to improve a roster that just got past a 14 season playoffs. He went on to say that if such a move were to materialize, it would more than likely come in the goaltending department, with Hellebuyck heading to Western New York. Going the other way would be defenseman Owen Power, though goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was also mentioned by Marek as a potential piece to include as part of a package if the conditions were right.
In the same segment, former Sabres netminder Carter Hutton added that Buffalo could throw in pieces like Zach Benson and Noah Ostlund to entice Winnipeg into making the trade, which would seemingly swing it super heavily in Winnipeg's favor, making it of zero interest to the Sabres.
A straight Power for Hellebuyck swap would be one thing, Marek is correct in noting the cap logistics. Power's current deal has an AAV of $8.35 and runs to the end of the 2030-31 season; not only is the pay extremely similar to that of Hellebuyck, but the term would remain unchanged in the grand scheme of things.
But let's zoom out for a second. The contracts of former Jets defensemen Luke Schenn and Logan Stanley, acquired by the Sabres at the deadline, are set to expire this offseason, while Michael Kesselring will enter restricted free agency at the same time. It's also worth recognizing the fact that Conor Timmins, Bowen Byram, and Zach Metsa are all eligible for contract extensions this offseason. Once Power is factored out of the equation, Rasmus Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson are the only two Sabres defensemen that are currently on the roster and that would remain if all of the aforementioned defensemen left over the next two offseasons.
The Sabres do have 10 non-roster defensemen, but it wouldn't exactly be the best move a contender like them could make if they called up five each preseason for two years.
While Hutton's proposed trade makes a little more sense on the surface level, the likes of Benson have proved critical for the Sabres. And Power did prove his worth at times during the Sabres' postseason run, opening the playoffs with a four-game point streak while also using some impeccable puck-moving to record the assist on Dahlin's game-tying goal in Game 7 against Montreal.
Will the Sabres make the move?
If Buffalo really is going to make such a move, now would be the time to do so. The 2026-27 season is the last one on Hellebuyck's current deal that comes with a no-move clause, meaning that the Jets cannot trade, waive, or re-assign Hellebuyck without his consent. After next season, he'll have a modified 10-team trade list, with the identities of the 10 teams on that list unknown.
Hellebuyck does have significant upside, but the cost for a team like the Sabres would be too extreme. Despite his struggles against Boston, Luukkonen rebounded well to end the playoffs, with his replacement ultimately struggling to maintain the run of form that helped carry Buffalo into the second round. The roles of Power and Benson have been discussed at length, while others like Ostlund will only get better with more time in the Sabres lineup.
If the Sabres opted to play the waiting game, they could hope that the Jets buyout his contract, which would cost the team around $2.6 million annually until the end of the 2035-36 season.
The Sabres would be better off reinforcing the roster that they currently have, particularly considering its recent success. That means retaining potential cornerstone pieces like Benson, finding a way to re-sign Tuch or acquire a top-six forward with a similar work rate, and filling the holes left by the two ex-Jets defensemen.
Anything else is purely extra. But at the same time, that extra cannot risk subtracting from what the Sabres already built.
That is paramount.
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