The Connor Hellebuyck saga took an unexpected but not necessarily surprising turn on Wednesday night as the Winnipeg Jets announced they have suspended their star goalie for failing to report to training camp. The former Vezina Trophy winner has been the subject of plenty of trade rumors this summer and officially announced his desire to be traded earlier in September.
During this entire process, the Buffalo Sabres have been closely connected to Hellebuyck and are a potential landing spot for the star goalie. It was reported during the NHL Draft that Hellebuyck would even waive his no-movement clause for a trade to Western New York.
Unfortunately, the two sides couldn't reach an agreement, and it is now being reported by Darren Dreger that the offers for Hellebuyck are "terrible". However, they are probably terrible because teams know that the player has the advantage of the no-movement clause and is willing to go as far as not reporting to camp.
Around the NHL Draft, the Sabres and Jets were reportedly close on a deal, but the hang-up was around draft picks, as the Jets wanted the fourth overall pick. Jarmo Kekalainen was willing to move that pick but wanted the Jets' eighth pick as part of the return. Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff didn't want to do that, and the hard reality is he now likely will have to accept a smaller package than what Buffalo was initially offering.
Buffalo Sabres give the Winnipeg Jets the best chance to get out of their Connor Hellebuyck nightmare
The best way for the Winnipeg Jets to get themselves out of the predicament they find themselves is to figure out a way to make a deal work with the Buffalo Sabres. For the Sabres, they should go back to what they were offering at the NHL Draft, which was a player, a prospect, and a first-round pick.
The Jets may get that deal, but won't have the value they might have gotten because it is unlikely that the first-round pick the Sabres send them, which would either be 2027 or 2028, will be a Top 5 pick.
For the Sabres, they would have some additional work they need to do on their end, particularly around their goalies. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen undoubtedly would be moved if the Sabres added Hellebuyck. However, he has a five-team no-trade clause that began July 1st, and it is unclear which teams are on that list; but it wouldn't be surprising if the Jets were one of them.
That means Jarmo Kekalainen would need to find another team to trade for Luukkonen but then he could include Alex Lyon in the trade package back to the Winnipeg Jets. It then opens the door for Colten Ellis to be the backup to Hellebuyck.
On Wednesday, Jarmo Kekalainen met with the media prior to training camp and was asked about the Hellebuyck trade rumors from this summer. He neither confirmed nor denied the rumors, but also didn't completely close the door.
"I will just say my same boring answer where anytime we have an opportunity to try and make our team better, we're going to look at it and make phone calls, have internal meetings about it and see if it goes anywhere."
While the Sabres have the leverage, it is time for Jarmo Kekalainen to pick up the phone one more time because this might be the time that it goes somewhere with the Winnipeg Jets about Connor Hellebuyck.
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