Trophy Tracker: Hellebuyck of Jets choice to win Vezina as best goalie

To mark the halfway point of the 2024-25 regular season, NHL.com is running its third installment of the Trophy Tracker series this week. Today, we look at the race for the Vezina Trophy, given annually to the top goalie in the NHL as selected by NHL general managers.

Connor Hellebuyck made history Jan. 7, when he got his 300th NHL win.

Coming into his 538th game, the Winnipeg Jets goalie became the quickest to 300 victories among United States-born goalies, and third fastest in NHL history after Andrei Vasilevskiy (490 games) and Jacques Plante (521).

He was named First Star of the game, a 5-2 win against the Nashville Predators, and in honor of the standing ovation he received from the fans at Canada Life Centre, he pointed to the Jets logo on his jersey as a way to repay the fans for the energy they provide him.

"Trying to share the moment with the fans," Hellebuyck said. "At the heart of our game we're entertainers, and they've been with us through the start of it. Everyone that was in the crowd tonight, I was trying to give them a piece of that emotion I was feeling."

Hellebuyck has given Jets fans a lot to cheer about, leading the NHL in wins (26), shutouts (six), goals-against average (2.02, minimum 20 games) and save percentage (.928, minimum 20 games) to help Winnipeg (29-12-3) spend most of the season atop the Central Division and Western Conference standings.

It's also why Hellebuyck was a unanimous selection to win the Vezina Trophy for the second consecutive season and third time, receiving all 16 first-place votes (80 points) from the NHL.com voting panel. He also was the unanimous pick for the first quarter of the season.

Filip Gustavsson of the Minnesota Wild was second with 51 voting points, followed by Jacob Markstrom of the New Jersey Devils with 50 points.

"He just very much embraces Winnipeg and Winnipeg embraces him," Jets forward Morgan Barron said. "That's really cool to see, the connection such a great player has with such a great city. You can tell he loves being here, he's passionate about being here, passionate about being a Winnipeg Jet."

Staying in Winnipeg was important for Hellebuyck, who is in the first season of a seven-year, $59.5 million contract ($8.5 million average annual value) he signed Oct. 9, 2023.

"For the longest time I was just playing, taking it day by day, having fun, working hard and trying to get better," he said. "As you get a little older in this league and things start to happen and you start to achieve some things, that sets in and you start to realize you're doing some great things. I've been grateful to be part of a great organization and have a lot of these guys around me the entire time and to be on a good team the entire time I've been here. I'm very grateful for everything that's been going on around me and I know it's not just me, it's the whole team and the whole organization that's helped."

It's reciprocal as Hellebuyck's strong play is a big reason for the Jets' success.

USA Hockey assistant executive director of hockey operations John Vanbiesbrouck saw it while he was helping select players for the United States team for the 4 Nations Face-Off. Hellebuyck will be one of the three goalies playing for the U.S. when the tournament is held Feb. 12-20 in Boston and Montreal.

"I think they play confident," said Vanbiesbrouck, an NHL goalie for 20 seasons and winner of the Vezina Trophy in 1986. "In games that you get down, you know that you can take a chance, because he's going to hold the fort. ... I think he really gives his team a lot of confidence."

Hellebuyck's 300th win followed him getting his 40th shutout on Nov. 7. He's one of four active goalies to reach that milestone, along with Marc-Andre Fleury of the Wild, Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers and Jonathan Quick of the New York Rangers. At 31 he's more than five years younger than any of them, meaning there's likely more milestones to come.

"I think there's been sort of era goalies," Jets coach Scott Arniel said. "Don't want to go too far back ... but you go through [Martin] Brodeur, you go through Patrick Roy. ... I had a chance to be around [Henrik Lundqvist] in New York. There's just elite players.

"To be around that, to watch that, to be on the bench watching it every night, that's special for me. These guys, they come along every so often and he's one of those guys and we've got him for a few more years, which is great."

Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis): Connor Hellebuyck, Jets, 80 points (16 first-place votes); Filip Gustavsson, Wild, 51; Jacob Markstrom, Devils, 50; Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars, 17; Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning, 11; Linus Ullmark, Ottawa Senators, 8; Logan Thompson, Washington Capitals, 5; Anthony Stolarz, Toronto Maple Leafs, 4; Adin Hill, Vegas Golden Knights, 4; Sergei Bobrovsky, Panthers, 4; Lukas Dostal, Anaheim Ducks, 2; Karel Vejmelka, Utah Hockey Club, 1; Kevin Lankinen, Vancouver Canucks, 1; Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators, 1; Igor Shesterkin, Rangers, 1