Connor Hellebuyck publicly requests trade from Winnipeg Jets: club faces one of its biggest decisions ahead of new NHL season
Connor Hellebuyck, one of the most successful NHL goaltenders of his generation and the longtime face of the Winnipeg Jets, has publicly confirmed that he wants to leave the club where he has spent his entire NHL career to date. The three-time Vezina Trophy winner announced on August 27, 2026, that he had privately submitted a trade request several months earlier, but with training camp approaching, he decided to make his decision public. In a statement released by his agent Ray Petkau, Hellebuyck said that he had tried to handle the situation quietly and respectfully toward the organization, giving the Jets time to explore the market. He added that his position had not changed and that he believes leaving Winnipeg is the best path for him and his family. The months-long uncertainty surrounding one of the franchise's most important players has therefore turned into an open issue that could define the final stretch of the NHL summer and the beginning of the 2026/27 season.
The Winnipeg Jets confirmed on the same day that they were aware of Hellebuyck's desire for a change of scenery. In an official statement, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff emphasized that the club has great respect for everything the goaltender has accomplished in Winnipeg and that the organization continues to work carefully through the situation, but that there was no new information at that time. No agreement with another club had been announced by September 1, and NHL.com, in its current analysis of the Jets, identified Hellebuyck's future as one of the team's three biggest unanswered questions. That means that at the beginning of September he remains a member of Winnipeg, without an officially confirmed destination and without a publicly established deadline by which a trade would have to be completed.
The request was private for months, while dissatisfaction could already be sensed in April
The publicly announced request did not come entirely unexpectedly. After the conclusion of the 2025/26 season, Hellebuyck spoke openly during exit interviews about his ambitions and about whether Winnipeg could build a team capable of winning the Stanley Cup in the period ahead. According to a report on the Jets' official website dated April 18, the goaltender clearly stated that winning a championship was the main remaining goal of his career. At the same time, he spoke about the difficulties the club faces in bringing in the players it needs and about how challenging it is to maintain a team at the level of a genuine title contender. Those comments did not amount to formal confirmation of a request to leave at the time, but they showed that Hellebuyck was seriously reconsidering his future within the organization.
General manager Cheveldayoff confirmed in June that the Jets were listening to offers from other clubs for Hellebuyck, although at that time he did not want to say publicly whether the goaltender had requested a trade. According to NHL.com, Cheveldayoff said that the club and player had held open and honest conversations during their end-of-season meetings. Two months later, Hellebuyck himself removed any doubt by confirming that the request had already been submitted. The chronology is therefore important: this is not a decision made a few days before training camp, but a process that has lasted for months and during which Winnipeg has had the opportunity to speak with potential partners. The goaltender's public statement now changes the negotiating dynamics because the entire league knows that the player wants a change.
Five years remaining on the contract make a possible trade extremely complex
Hellebuyck's status differs from the classic situation in which a star enters the final year of a contract and the club risks losing him without compensation. Winnipeg and Hellebuyck signed a seven-year extension worth $59.5 million in October 2023, with an average annual value of $8.5 million. The contract began in the 2024/25 season, meaning Hellebuyck has five years remaining on his deal at the start of the 2026/27 season. NHL.com also highlighted that fact during the summer, when Cheveldayoff confirmed that the club was listening to offers. For a potential acquiring team, that means obtaining an elite goaltender, but also taking on a major long-term commitment within the NHL salary-cap system.
That is precisely why a potential trade has the potential to become one of the biggest deals ahead of the new season. Winnipeg does not face the same time pressure it would if the contract expired in a few months, so it can insist on a valuable return in players, draft picks or young talent. On the other hand, the player's publicly confirmed desire to leave may affect the club's negotiating position because potential partners know that the relationship has entered a new phase. Every interested club would have to assess not only Hellebuyck's quality but also his age, the length of his contract, its own salary-cap situation and the price Winnipeg is demanding.
From the Hart Trophy and Presidents’ Trophy to a season without the playoffs
The dramatic turnaround that the Jets and Hellebuyck experienced in just one year adds further weight to the entire story. In the 2024/25 season, Winnipeg won the Presidents’ Trophy as the best team in the NHL regular season, finishing with 56 wins and 116 points. Hellebuyck then had one of the finest goaltending seasons in the modern NHL: according to official league statistics, he posted a 47-12-3 record, a 2.00 goals-against average, a .925 save percentage and eight shutouts. For that season he received the third Vezina Trophy of his career and also won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's most valuable player. He became the first goaltender since Carey Price in the 2014/15 season to win the Hart, further cementing his status as one of the franchise's most important players.
Only a year later, the picture changed completely. Winnipeg finished the 2025/26 season with a 35-35-12 record and failed to qualify for the playoffs, finishing eight points behind the Los Angeles Kings in the race for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. NHL.com states that the Jets became only the fifth team in league history to miss the playoffs in the season after winning the Presidents’ Trophy. Hellebuyck went 23-23-11 in 57 games, with a 2.86 goals-against average and a .895 save percentage, significantly weaker numbers than a year earlier. The goaltender himself did not shy away from responsibility after the season, stressing that he had also been part of the problem, but at the same time saying that he considered such a team decline unacceptable compared with the previous year.
Hellebuyck is entering a stage of his career in which individual awards are no longer the only measure of success. With three Vezina Trophies, a Hart Trophy and numerous club records, his individual legacy is already exceptionally strong, but the Stanley Cup is still missing. During his 11 NHL seasons, the Jets have reached the Western Conference Final only once, in 2018. His comments in April can therefore be read primarily through the prism of time: the goaltender wants to spend the remaining elite years of his career in an environment that he believes gives him the best chance of winning a championship.
Olympic gold showed that Hellebuyck can still be a decisive factor
A weaker club season, however, did not mean a complete drop in Hellebuyck's level. In February 2026, he was one of the key players for the United States national team that won gold at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games. According to USA Hockey data, the American team went through the tournament undefeated and defeated Canada 2:1 in overtime in the final. Hellebuyck finished the tournament with a 1.18 goals-against average and a .956 save percentage, and the tournament directorate named him the best goaltender. NHL.com reported that he made 41 saves in the final against Canada, while Jack Hughes scored the overtime goal that gave the United States its first Olympic gold medal in men's hockey since 1980.
The Olympic performance is also important in the context of a possible trade market. Clubs considering a major deal are not assessing only his .895 mark from the most recent NHL season, but also a multi-year sample of elite results and the fact that on the biggest international tournament just a few months earlier he once again displayed an elite level. Hellebuyck won the Vezina in 2020, 2024 and 2025, and under the current system for awarding the trophy, only Dominik Hašek, Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy have won at least three. That is the level of individual résumé that rarely appears on the market. At the same time, every team that would like to acquire him must assess whether such a level of performance will last long enough to justify a major trade price and the remaining five years of his contract.
Winnipeg has already secured itself at the goaltending position, but the club rejects the claim that this was a plan for Hellebuyck's departure
The arrival of Stuart Skinner makes the situation even more interesting. On July 1, the Jets signed the 27-year-old goaltender to a two-year contract worth a total of $7.5 million, or $3.75 million per season. Skinner split the 2025/26 season between the Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins, and had previously appeared in two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals with Edmonton. His arrival immediately raised the question of whether Winnipeg was preparing insurance in case Hellebuyck left. Cheveldayoff, however, said in early July that the uncertainty surrounding Hellebuyck was not the reason for signing Skinner and that the club had simply taken advantage of an opportunity to sign a goaltender it rated highly on the free-agent market.
If Hellebuyck remains at least for the beginning of the season, Winnipeg would enter camp with a very experienced goaltending tandem. If he is traded, Skinner would provide the organization with an NHL-ready option, although the club has not officially announced that it views him as a direct long-term replacement for Hellebuyck. The Jets can negotiate without the immediate danger of being left without an experienced goaltender, while potential buyers know that Winnipeg already has a player capable of taking on a larger number of games.
Training camp brings the moment of decision closer
According to the schedule published by the Winnipeg Jets, the team's training camp begins on September 17, while the first preseason game is scheduled for September 19 against the Edmonton Oilers. Winnipeg's new regular season begins on October 2 with a home game against the Boston Bruins at Canada Life Centre. Hellebuyck cited the approaching camp itself as the reason why he no longer wanted his trade request to remain private. His public message does not mean that a deal must happen before the team's first gathering, but it creates a clear timeframe in which every appearance or absence of his during preparations will be under scrutiny. For the coach, teammates and management, this is an issue that could overshadow the usual topics at the start of the season if it remains unresolved.
For now, there is no officially confirmed new club, agreed return or trade date. There is also no credible confirmation that the Jets have decided to accept a specific offer or that any individual club has emerged as the clear favorite. Media speculation about possible destinations should therefore be separated from confirmed facts: what is known is that Hellebuyck wants to leave, that Winnipeg was already listening to offers in June and that the club had no update to announce at the end of August. Everything else depends on negotiations that are by their nature private and in which the value of one of the league's most decorated goaltenders must be aligned with the financial and sporting possibilities of a potential partner.
A trade could change the direction of the entire franchise
For Winnipeg, this is not just a question of who will be in goal next season. Hellebuyck was selected 130th overall in the 2012 NHL Draft and built his entire professional story at the highest level with the Jets. Over 11 seasons he became one of the symbols of the club, and his best results are directly connected with the team's most successful periods. His departure would therefore have both a sporting and symbolic impact: it would mark the end of an era and force management to define precisely whether it wants to continue pursuing the top of the Western Conference with the existing core or convert part of the goaltender's value into younger players and future draft picks.
On the other hand, the Jets still have a number of key players under contract, including Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Josh Morrissey and Cole Perfetti. NHL.com notes ahead of the 2026/27 season that the team's core has largely remained together despite last year's major drop in results. A potential Hellebuyck trade therefore does not necessarily have to mean a complete rebuild, but the contents of the deal would show how management assesses its own competitive window. A return consisting of established NHL players would signal a desire for Winnipeg to remain competitive immediately, while a package focused on draft picks and young talent would point more toward longer-term restructuring.
Hellebuyck's decision has thus become the central story surrounding the club ahead of the new season within a matter of days. His request is clear, but the final outcome is not: his contract gives him long-term security, gives the Jets negotiating room, and imposes a major financial and sporting commitment on interested clubs. Until an offer appears that Winnipeg considers valuable enough, a scenario in which Hellebuyck begins preparations as a member of the Jets despite his publicly expressed desire to leave remains possible. That is precisely why Cheveldayoff's next move will be more important than the rumors about possible destinations themselves. After more than a decade in the same jersey, the future of one of the most decorated goaltenders in the modern NHL is openly separated from the future of the Winnipeg Jets for the first time.
Sources:
- NHL.com – confirmation of Hellebuyck's public trade request, his statement, club status and data from the 2025/26 season (link)
- Winnipeg Jets – official statement by general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff following Hellebuyck's trade request (link)
- NHL.com – Cheveldayoff's statement that the Jets are listening to offers, as well as Hellebuyck's results from the 2025/26 season and the Olympic Games (link)
- Winnipeg Jets – Hellebuyck's post-season comments about his ambition to win the Stanley Cup and the team's future (link)
- Winnipeg Jets – official information on Hellebuyck's seven-year contract worth $59.5 million and an average annual value of $8.5 million (link)
- Winnipeg Jets – information on winning the Hart Memorial and Vezina Trophies in 2025 and results from the 2024/25 season (link)
- USA Hockey – United States national team's results at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games and Hellebuyck's tournament statistics (link)
- Winnipeg Jets – official information on Stuart Skinner's signing to a two-year contract (link)
- Winnipeg Jets – official preseason schedule and the start of training camp for the 2026/27 season (link)
- Winnipeg Jets – official regular-season schedule and confirmation that Winnipeg opens the season against the Boston Bruins on October 2 (link)
- NHL.com – Winnipeg Jets analysis from September 1, 2026, and the current status of Hellebuyck's future with the club (link)
- NHL.com – Cheveldayoff's clarification that signing Stuart Skinner was not a consequence of the uncertainty surrounding Hellebuyck (link)