Connor Hellebuyck said Tuesday he told the New Jersey Devils “felt it was his duty” to play the Winnipeg Jets, but came away from his conversation with the team understanding the call sit out.
“I’m 14 days into a new team, and they handle their business differently than I’m used to,” he told reporters. “When I went in there and said my piece and said I felt it was my duty to play this game and said ‘I want to play,’ I had a good conversation with the (coach Sheldon Keefe) and (general manager Sunny Mehta), and I left that conversation understanding where they’re at.”
Hellebuyck spoke after the Devils morning skate, with the team having announced Sunday he would not start against his former team.
The star netminder reiterated that multiple factors led to his trade request, but said there were incidents involving his family that “crossed the line as a husband and a father.” He noted the incidents were “more than online death threats” but asked that media members respect his privacy and ask no further questions on the subject.
Hellebuyck told the Jets he wanted out of Winnipeg at the end of last season despite having five seasons remaining on the seven-year, $59.1 million contract he signed in October of 2023. He made his trade request public in August in hopes of spurring a deal and things turned ugly from there.
He was first suspended by the organization in September for failing to show up for training camp. Hellebuyck then informed the team he intended to report for the regular season and was handed a three-week suspension to start the campaign, being dealt on the day the suspension was set to end.
“To the people who feel that I’ve been disloyal, well, there’s also a lot that I was not expecting to happen go on throughout this contract,” he said.
He forfeited just under $930,000 as a result of his initial failure to report.
“When you make a decision like this, it has to be all or nothing,” Hellebuyck said of not reporting to the Jets. He added that had he rejoined the organization, his family would not have joined him in Winnipeg.
Hellebuyck said politics were not to blame for his trade request, with tensions between the Canada and America only rising in NHL rinks after Team USA’s gold-medal victory at the Olympics in February.
“Those are accomplishments that I will never apologize for, and I will never speak negatively about,” Hellebuyck said of winning gold. “I know the sensitivity about what’s going on between the U.S. and Canada, and I’ve never gotten into politics deep with anyone because I’m a hockey player.”
Despite it all, Hellebuyck is hoping that time will heal his relationship with the Jets and the city of Winnipeg.
“When I retire and the day that this is all over... I don’t want our relationships to be gone... I’m going to choose the love I have for [Winnipeg] and everyone in the community,” Hellebuyck said.
The Devils sent prospect Alexander Command, who was just drafted 12th overall in June, forwards Dawson Mercer and Nick Bjugstad, goaltender Nic Daws, a 2027 seventh-round pick and a 2029 second-round pick all to Winnipeg in the Oct. 23 blockbuster.
Daws will start Tuesday for the Jets against his former team, having gone 0-1 in two games with Winnipeg so far with a .913 save percentage and a 3.11 goals-against average.
Devils’ general manager Sunny Mehta cited a “reduction in our expected win probability” as the reason for resting Hellebuyck in Winnipeg.
“The competitor in me of course wants to get Connor out there. Let’s go, let’s get at it,” Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe said Tuesday. “But Sunny made the decision he didn’t want him to be a part of this.”
Hellebuyck is set to dress as Jake Allen’s backup on Tuesday but will likely only be visible to the Canada Life Centre during warmups.
TSN’s Danielle Bain notes that backup goaltenders in Winnipeg typically sit away from their teams near the Zamboni tunnel, but Hellebuyck has always practised a different routine. Throughout his career, the netminder has remained in his team’s locker room when serving as a backup or when pulled from a game.
Therefore, if he holds true to habit, Hellebuyck will be out sight - though, surely not out of mind - of the crowd in Winnipeg Tuesday.
“I would have loved to play against him. We’d all be lying if we said we weren’t looking forward to the opportunity,” Jets captain Adam Lowry said on Monday. “Like I said countless times, he’s a good friend of ours and it’s always fun going up against buddies and ex-teammates, you just want to best him and I think the atmosphere would have been great whether fans were upset or they wanted to thank him, whatever. It would have been an emotional night, and it would have been a lot of fun.”
“I didn’t even think that was a possibility, so I was pretty surprised,” winger Kyle Connor added. “I thought he was playing for sure.”
Hellebuyck improved to 5-0-0 as a member of the Devils with a 4-0 shutout win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday. He has solidified the team’s shaky play in goal, posting a .913 save percentage and a 1.96 goals-against average.
Allen has a 6-3-0 record with a .881 save percentage and a 3.20 goals-against average this season, while Daws was 2-2-0 with a .872 save percentage and a 2.78 GAA while with the Devils.
Selected by the Jets in the fifth round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Hellebuyck spent the first 11 seasons of his career in Winnipeg
Over 625 regular-season games in Winnipeg, Hellebuyck had a 345-208-55 record alongside a 2.58 goals-against average and .916 save percentage with 45 shutouts.
Hellebuyck won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie in 2020, 2024 and 2025 as well as the Hart Memorial Trophy in 2025.