Connor Hellebuyck's name showed up in trade rumors this week, tied to the Colorado Avalanche instead of the Winnipeg Jets.
Elliotte Friedman dropped the connection on 32 Thoughts Thursday, and it caught plenty of people off guard.
Friedman was careful with it too. He said he didn't know how a deal could work, wasn't sure what Colorado would even offer, and wasn't convinced Winnipeg would want to move him anyway.
But he also said a couple of teams have "kinda suspected" the Avalanche considered it. That's the part that sticks.
Elliotte Friedman: Re Connor Hellebuyck/Avalanche: I don't know how that could work, I don't know what they would offer, and I'm not sure that Winnipeg would wanna see that, but there were a couple teams...kinda suspected the Avalanche considered it.
Hellebuyck is sitting on a $8,500,000 cap hit and posted a .895 save percentage across 57 games this season, with 18 wins.
The Jets finished 35-35-12 with a minus-29 goal differential and closed the year on a four-game slide.
Colorado is nowhere near that kind of trouble. The Avalanche went 55-16-11, put up a plus-99 goal differential, and rolled into the offseason on a three-game winning streak.
Why the Avalanche goalie math doesn't add up
And that's exactly why this rumor is strange. Colorado already has a franchise centerpiece in Nathan MacKinnon carrying a $12,600,000 cap hit, plus a full roster built to win now.
Layering another $8,500,000 goalie contract on top of that, without a clear return, would squeeze a team that doesn't have cap room to spare.
Jared Bednar runs a group in Colorado that doesn't need to gamble on a fix in net. Chris MacFarland's front office has stayed patient for years for a reason.
Winnipeg, on the other hand, just watched a promising season come apart late, and Scott Arniel's group finished outside where they wanted to be.
Kevin Cheveldayoff hasn't said a word publicly about moving his starter. Nothing here suggests the Jets are shopping Hellebuyck.
This is the kind of trade rumor that reads better as a talking point than an actual plan. Friedman himself sounded unconvinced it could get built.
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Still, when insiders start floating a name like Hellebuyck's next to a Cup contender, teams around the league start paying attention. Whether Colorado actually pulls the trigger is a different question entirely.
Would trading for Connor Hellebuyck actually make the Avalanche better?
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