Connor Hellebuyck’s Jets Suspension Ends Friday: What the Three-Team Trade Market Means
Winnipeg has until Friday to decide what the rest of Connor Hellebuyck’s career looks like, and as of Tuesday afternoon the Jets had not decided anything.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported Monday night that at least three teams remain in trade talks for the goaltender, with no guarantee a deal gets done before his team-imposed suspension expires Friday. If nothing happens, Kaplan reported, Winnipeg is expected to start paying him again while continuing to keep him away from the team.
Who Is Actually In On Him
Kaplan did not name the teams. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman did, later the same night: Buffalo first, and he reported Hellebuyck is willing to go there. The Rangers are interested, though Friedman said he does not see Chris Drury making that deal. Friedman reads Utah’s interest as real. Carolina has asked, but the fit is awkward.
Nothing is agreed. No named insider has reported a completed trade, and neither Winnipeg nor any other club has confirmed one. Trade packages circulating on social media this week come from accounts with no established reporting record. Do not treat any of it as real until Friedman, Kaplan, Chris Johnston or Pierre LeBrun says so.
Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekalainen went on WGR 550 and declined to engage with the rumors, backing the goalie he already has. “UPL is a really good goaltender that has a lot to give to the Buffalo Sabres, and he’ll be a big part of our future,” Kekalainen said of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
How Winnipeg Got Here
Hellebuyck confirmed publicly on Aug. 27 that he had requested a trade months earlier. He then did not report to training camp, and the Jets suspended him without pay on Sept. 16 under the collective bargaining agreement’s disciplinary provision. The league and the players’ association settled on a length of roughly two and a half weeks, which runs out Friday. ESPN estimated he had forfeited close to $800,000 through Monday at about $39,000 a day.
He has not played an NHL game since April 13. He has been skating on his own in Michigan.
This is not a fringe player holding out. Hellebuyck, 33, has won the Vezina Trophy three times, took the Hart Trophy in 2025 and won Olympic gold with the United States in February. He went 47-12-3 with a 2.00 goals-against average two seasons ago. Last season he slid to 23-23-11 with a .895 save percentage in 57 games and Winnipeg missed the playoffs.
The Contract Is the Whole Problem
He is in year three of a seven-year, $59.5 million extension signed in October 2023, at an $8.5 million cap hit with five years left. He also holds a full no-movement clause this season, which becomes a modified no-trade clause next summer. Any acquiring team has to fit $8.5 million by Friday and get his approval on the destination.
Meanwhile the Jets are 4-2-2 in eight games with Stuart Skinner at 3-0-2, a 2.76 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage. Winnipeg is also carrying a full 23-man roster, so activating Hellebuyck would require clearing a spot.
Head coach Scott Arniel told NHL.com on Monday that the room is not the obstacle. “I don’t think our whole group is saying, ‘Oh, we don’t want you. We don’t want you,'” Arniel said. “Right now, everybody’s waiting to see. We’re not sure what the next play is going to be.” Forward Cole Perfetti put it less diplomatically, saying the Jets “want guys that want to be here.”
There is one more date on the calendar. Winnipeg hosts Montreal in the Heritage Classic on Sunday, two days after the deadline. Friedman does not think the club wants that outdoor game turned into a Hellebuyck press conference: “They don’t want it completely overshadowed by a Hellebuyck arrival.”
Which points at the likeliest outcome. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has said “no doors are closed,” but a goalie with a no-movement clause, five years of term and a down season behind him is not a seller’s asset. Expect Friday to pass with Hellebuyck back on the payroll, still not on the ice, and this whole thing pushed to a summer when he can actually be moved.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
