Hellebuyck talks Olympics, expectations for Jets in Q&A with NHL.com

HENDERSON, Nev. -- Connor Hellebuyck spent the summer preparing to do more and to be even better in what could be the biggest season of his life.

The Winnipeg Jets goalie will be defending the Hart Trophy as NHL most valuable player. He will be defending the Vezina Trophy as the League's top goalie. He won each last season, going 47-12-3 with a 2.00 goals-against average, .925 save percentage and eight shutouts, becoming the first goalie to pull off that feat since Carey Price in 2014-15.

Hellebuyck will again be the backbone of the Jets, who won the Presidents' Trophy last season as the team with the best regular-season record before being eliminated in the Western Conference Second Round. They're among the favorites again in the West and remain a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

On top of all of that, Hellebuyck also has the chance to be the United States' No. 1 goalie at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 and an opportunity to help the Americans win gold for the first time since the "Miracle on Ice" in 1980.

Hellebuyck spoke about everything up for grabs for him this season along with his beliefs as a No. 1 goalie and his process to maintain his status during an interview with NHL.com at the NHL/NHLPA North American Player Media Tour Wednesday.

When you have a season like you had last year, rolling through it the way you did, where do your thoughts go in the summer as you're training and you're thinking about getting back to Winnipeg?

"I was thinking, 'How can we take that to another level? How can we continue to build?' Just because you had success doesn't mean you're going to have success every single day. So how can we continue to build that? That's what I love about the game and playing the game, is there's always more to learn. There's always adapting with the game and how the game is changing. So, for me, it was what's the next step. I believe it's managing stress levels. Near the end of the season when you get into the playoffs, the stress is just immediately higher. Everyone is staring at you and trying to point out your wrongs. It comes down to really just getting yourself in your bubble, playing your game, worrying about what you want to do and what you like to see."

Can you work on that or is that just a mental thing?

"It's a mental thing but you can work on it in practice. Say the practice isn't going perfectly, instead of getting all stressed out about it and bent out about it, just give yourself a chance to think about it and adjust the things you want to adjust and continue on just playing instead of letting that build up there and frustrate you."

Is that the difference for goalies between playoff hockey and regular season hockey, the stress level of it? Is the stress level the biggest difference?

"I would say probably, yeah. That and the playoff game is so team oriented. There's never one guy that's going to get you through it. If there's one guy that's having a really good playoffs, well I can promise you that there's 19 other guys that are contributing to his success. The thing I've learned is, no one guy should be blamed and no one guy should be put on a pedestal. You need everybody."

Are you able to put yourself in your own bubble during the playoffs or is it harder to do?

"Yeah, I'm definitely able to. I mean, it doesn't matter if you lose by one goal or you lose by 10 goals, at the end of the day, it's a loss. You've got to move on and win the next one. Stats really just fly out the window. You don't have to care about stats. Stats are important for contracts and the business side of things, but when the playoffs come around you don't really care about that. It's did you win or did you lose."

When you were rolling in the regular season last year, what were you feeling? Describe your emotion, your preparation. How did you keep it going?

"Well, I managed my rollercoaster really well last year. That being said, the team was playing great last year. They were scoring goals. They were keeping chances down. It made my life a lot easier and made the game predictable, and that's one of my strengths. So they played right into my strengths. But for me personally I managed the rollercoaster. Any time something bad would happen, I was immediately throwing it away and not worrying about it. I wasn't giving it a second thought. Same old process of watching video and sometimes when you're doing really well you say, 'OK, let's bank this video for later,' so when you do start to come down you can go back and watch it and remember, 'OK, things are good.' So, the whole management side of things, that's really important. But when I was in the mix of it, it was just another game. I would always tell (backup goalie) Eric (Comrie), we had a bunch of little, I wouldn't say superstitions but routines that we love and just crack us up that just kept the game light. We were like kids again having fun. It's so important not to overthink it, just go out there and have fun."

This year could be a huge year for you with all you can accomplish with the Jets, aiming to be the United States' No. 1 goalie at the Olympics, defending the Hart and Vezina, trying to deliver in the playoffs. What do you think about what this year and the potential of this season could be for you?

"For me I'm kind of going into it as just another season, just another season. We're continuing to build, but I don't want to bring expectations into it. I think expectations kill. I've seen it enough. We're a good team but sometimes you don't win when you expect to win, and you win when you don't expect to win. Really just trying to keep all expectations off the table and go in with a fresh slate. We're going to build our game the way we ended last year, put our best foot forward and let everything fall into place."

Because you had the experience last year of the 4 Nations and building to that and then coming off of that, do you think it'll make it easier to build toward the Olympics and come off of that provided you're there?

"Absolutely. I think the 4 Nations was really good for not only on the ice, because now I know what to expect, what the game is going to be, but for all the off-ice stuff, what to do with the families, where I'm staying, the travel, the new players, meeting new guys. It helps to bring stress levels down, worry levels down. You're kind of just going one day at a time, just go and do your thing."

You've brought up stress levels a few times. I wonder, did you used to be a stressed out goalie and have you learned to manage that over time?

"I was never stressed a lot. I was always really good at controlling my emotions. But there was always a point in the season where I would get burnt, have to get it off my chest with my goalie coach and then we were back to square one. Managing your stress levels is something through the years that I've identified through the years that can enhance your consistency. I keep saying it because it's so important for consistency."

It used to be that goalies would play 60 or more games regularly. Things have changed toward being a closer split among two goalies per team, but you have played at least 60 games in four straight seasons and six of the past eight. It likely would have been eight straight if not for the shortened seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21 due to the pandemic. Why is it important for you to do that and how are you able to do it consistently?

"Yeah, the trend is the split, but I think that is like a [political] movement in that someone got lucky and made it work and now everyone else thinks, 'Oh, that's the right way to do it.' I don't agree with that. I think the best way to bring out the best part of yourself is to play and get into a rhythm. For me, I would like to go back to the days of 70-plus games. I think you can stay in a rhythm and once you're confident you can just ride it and you don't really have to think a whole lot, you're just playing because you're feeling it every single night. The caveat that goes with that is the management. The problem with [goalies playing more games] is because the demand on the goalie with practices and stress levels are so high because teams don't let the goalie and the goalie coach do their thing. That's what we do really well in Winnipeg, we realize that our needs are separate from the whole team's needs and they let us do what we need to do to make us best. I've got full control over the management side of things on that."

OK, so that's interesting. Paint that picture for me. How does it work? What does it look like?

"So with me and my goalie coach, we talk about things like after games do you need some time off? Do we need to take the day off and then maybe do a big video session. Or maybe do we go in the gym and get a light workout in, some activation. Or maybe just do video that day and call it a day. Do you need rest? Get your rest when you can get it. Do you want to go on the ice? Sometimes it's I want to go on the ice but I don't need to see shots that day, I just want to go out with my goalie coach and do some skating and get dialed in and have a good work day without really exhausting the tank at all."

But sometimes the team is practicing and they need two goalies.

"And that's why we've always had a third goalie on call if we need it. And now this year, they've added a third goalie."

Have you had conversations about all of that with other goalies and your philosophies?

"I've had a couple conversations definitely, but it's not on the goalie to figure that out, it's on the organization to let him figure that out. That's why I'm so grateful where I play … I've been building it for years. The organization has realized that if you let me be hands on, I'm going to make things work and we have such a good goalie coach that delivers that message as well. So it's on the goalie coach and the coaches to deliver the message like, 'Hey, we're not slacking off here, there's a purpose for everything we do.'"