Connor Hellebuyck's trade saga with the Winnipeg Jets just got a much darker outlook.
Elliotte Friedman addressed the situation on 32 Thoughts, and his framing was more pessimistic than anything said so far this summer.
"I just think that there were some things that happened last year that were out of the Jets' control post-Olympics that have made this situation impossible to resolve," Friedman said.
He didn't specify exactly what those things were, only that they sat entirely outside Winnipeg's control.
That's a striking admission from hockey's top insider. Not difficult to resolve, not complicated to resolve, impossible to resolve.
Friedman did offer an updated read on the market itself in a separate note on the same show.
"I think Buffalo's still around it, I think Utah's still around it, I think Carolina's still around it," he said.
-
-
Connor Hellebuyck trade saga takes stunning turn after Friedman's grim Jets report
He described the New Jersey situation differently. "I've had very mixed messaging on New Jersey," Friedman added.
He also left the door open for names nobody's heard yet. "I always assume there's people out there I haven't uncovered yet," he said.
That's a lot of moving pieces for a situation Friedman just called impossible to fix in the same breath.
It's the equivalent of a realtor saying a house will never sell while still fielding three separate offers on it.
Hellebuyck posted a .895 save percentage across 57 appearances last season, still elite enough to justify every bit of this attention.
Winnipeg finished last season 35-35-12, good for 26th overall, missing the playoffs for the first time in four years.
Is it possible for a trade market this active to stay this unresolved simply because of forces neither side can control?
My take: calling something impossible to resolve while still naming three interested teams is its own kind of contradiction, and that tension is exactly what's kept this story alive all summer.
Camp opens any day now, and Friedman's own words suggest this might not get solved before it does.
Do you think the Connor Hellebuyck trade situation ever actually gets resolved?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Connor McDavid draws serious heat for honest take on Oilers decision to sign Alex Formenton
