WINNIPEG — It wasn’t long ago that Jets captain Adam Lowry joked about getting a break from questions regarding former teammate Connor Hellebuyck.
At the time, the trade with the New Jersey Devils had just been finalized and Lowry was excited for his team to move forward.
“Yeah, just with that situation finally coming to an end, it’s not going to be talked about until I guess Nov. 10 when he comes back,” Lowry said with a smile on Oct. 24. “So, we got a week’s reprieve, I guess.”
That reprieve has come to an end following a statement released by the New Jersey Devils Sunday night announcing that the former Jets goaltender will not play Tuesday. As an Eastern Conference team, it’s the only game the Devils are scheduled to play in Winnipeg during the regular season. The Jets’ lone trip to New Jersey is scheduled for Nov. 28, a few weeks from now.
“I would have loved to play against him. We’d all be lying if we said we weren’t looking forward to the opportunity,” 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.”
The Devils’ decision to sit Hellebuyck prompted several strong reactions, and Winnipeg Jets fans weren’t the only ones surprised by the news.
“I didn’t even think that was a possibility, so I was pretty surprised,” said Jets winger Kyle Connor. “I thought he was playing for sure.”
The Devils’ statement, along with the goaltender himself, explained that keeping him off the ice Tuesday was an organizational decision, and one they believe gives them a better chance of winning.
“I’m disappointed, but I understand,” said Hellebuyck after his team’s 4-0 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday. “I love Winnipeg and playing there again and just facing the music and seeing the reaction, it’d be nice. But it’s out of my hands.”
The situation surrounding the goaltender has been a major storyline for the Jets this season, ever since Hellebuyck released a statement before training camp admitting he had requested a trade.
Jets players were asked about it throughout training camp, again leading up to the end of his suspension on Oct. 23, and once more when he was finally traded to the Devils.
Now, the latest plot twist comes as the Jets were preparing for a hostile environment directed at the three-time Vezina Trophy winner.
“To me it goes back to ownership, it goes back to fans, it goes back to the core guys that have been with [Hellebuyck] from the very beginning,” said head coach Scott Arniel. “That’s the part for me that’s hard. He gave up on us. It would be nice to finally be done with this. All this does is drag this out to nine or 10 more games and then we have to talk about it again.”
According to the Devils’ statement, Hellebuyck is planning to speak to the media in Winnipeg after Tuesday’s morning skate at the goaltender’s request. He also told reporters he would reveal his reasons for requesting a trade at that time.
Regardless of his intention to speak, Jets fans throughout the city have been sharing their disappointment, a sentiment shared by some of the players themselves.
“I think we all hoped he was playing,” Connor added when asked if there might be a sense of relief now that they know Hellebuyck isn’t starting.
An interesting part of the story is the fact that Hellebuyck will not be visible to fans during the game. Historically, Hellebuyck has chosen to stay in the locker room with a video coach during games when he’s serving as the backup or has been pulled from the net, rather than sitting with his teammates. At this point, it’s likely fans will only see the former Jet during warmups.
“At the end of the day, I think that we just wanted to get this game over and done with and play him,” said Arniel. “The fans were going to react how they were going to react.”
The highly anticipated game between the Devils and Jets can be seen on TSN3, with a pregame show starting at 6:30 p.m. MBT.