Jets ‘listening’ to trade offers for Hellebuyck, GM says

WINNIPEG -- The Winnipeg Jets are listening to trade offers for Connor Hellebuyck, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said Friday.

Cheveldayoff, however, would not provide a definitive answer as to whether his franchise goalie has requested a move.

“Certainly, as an organization we're going to listen,” Cheveldayoff said. “Everyone saw (Hellebuyck’s) press conference at the end of the year; he was passionate. Certainly, in our exit meetings we had some frank conversations as well, but again, what happens in those meetings certainly stays private.”

Hellebuyck has played each of his 11 seasons with the Jets since being selected in the fifth round (No. 130) of the 2012 NHL Draft. The three-time Vezina Trophy winner as the League’s top goalie (2020, 2024, 2025) went 23-23-11 with a 2.86 goals-against average and .895 save percentage this season but helped Team USA win gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February, when he had a 1.18 GAA and .956 save percentage in five games.

Winnipeg (35-35-12) finished seventh in the Central Division this season and missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It has only reached the Western Conference Final once (2017-18) since Hellebuyck’s arrival in 2015.

“Complacency is not going to get us moving forward, so something has got to happen,” he said during his end-of-season media session on April 17. “I’m not going to just sit here and throw every guy under the bus because honestly, I’m a goalie and I know goaltending really well. I can’t say, ‘This forward did this and that defense did that.’ That’s not my spot. I believe in every guy in giving their A-plus effort every single night.

“A lot of times, that’s all you can ask -- give your all every single night. As a teammate, l can really rally behind that and really cherish those moments with those guys. But to just put that same product on the ice, I don’t think it worked for a reason.”

Hellebuyck has five seasons remaining on the seven-year, $59.5 million contract ($8.5 million average annual value) he signed with the Jets on Oct. 9, 2023. He had knee surgery in mid-November and returned Dec. 13. The 33-year-old has won at least 30 games six times, including two 40-win seasons. His 345 wins since the 2015-16 season are second behind Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning (363), while his 45 shutouts rank first.

“At the end of the day, we both chose to sign a seven-year extension,” Cheveldayoff said. “He gave up some UFA years. We had the desire to take a player into his high 30s and there's risk on both sides. So again, as an organization it’s incumbent upon me to listen, and then that's kind of what I've done up until this point.”

Winnipeg has the No. 8 pick in the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft heading into the first round at KeyBank Center in Buffalo on Friday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS). Whether the Jets trade the pick to bolster the current roster or keep it and move Hellebuyck elsewhere remains to be seen.

“If you can fill some holes in other areas and do things a little bit differently, then you can try to find a way,” Cheveldayoff said. “It’s going to depend on how bad a team wants something. We have needs as well.

“I go back to it, that it’s incumbent upon me to listen -- not just on (Hellebuyck); you’re always listening. It’s not just about one singular person; it’s about pick No. 8, it’s about pick No. 71, whatever. In this job, there’s always questions and propositions, and then you’re making those as well. There’s outgoing calls that you’re making as a manager to say, ‘Hey, is this opportunity available to us?’ It's heightened, obviously, at this time of the year because it is the offseason, but I think you're always listening. In this game here, everything changes with phone calls and conversations and stuff like that, but, again, at the end of the day you keep on trying to do the best things that we can for the Winnipeg Jets moving forward here, thinking about the entire organization and team in every decision that you make.”