The nhl's top defensive club in the regular season gave up the most goals in the playoffs
On April 29, Connor Hellebuyck was named a Vezina Trophy finalist for the fourth time in his career. Just a day later, his Winnipeg Jets were eliminated by the dominant Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Hellebuyck rocked a .921 save percentage and 2.39 goals against average through 60 games in the regular season – his best numbers since his 2019-20 Vezina-winning season.
But the heavy favourite for the NHL’s 2024 top goaltending honours did not have the postseason he or the Jets were hoping for. He posted a .870 save percentage and 5.23 goals against average.
Despite being knocked out much earlier than the Jets had hoped, Connor Hellebuyck doesn't believe the stat sheet tells the whole story.
“You’re probably not going to believe me when I say, I was playing the best hockey of my career,” Hellebuyck said in his exit meeting on Thursday. “That’s truly how I was feeling. Not only was I playing some of my best hockey, but I was in that zone where you’re not thinking, you’re just playing.”
This is the same Hellebuyck who got lit up for 24 goals this postseason. He and his team believe it was more than just the high-powered Colorado offence that lost them the series.
“I didn’t think we made the right changes and implemented them the right way,” he added. “And that’s not a throw at the coaching staff. That’s on all of us… But I don’t want to say we didn’t give everything we had and we didn’t change some things. We definitely did. And it’s on all of us to make that stuff work.”
Hellebuyck didn't have much time to rest during the five-game-series, facing the most shots and making the most saves of any netminder in the round.
“I feel like in a lot of those games I was stealing some goals,” Hellebuyck reflected. “That being said, I’m not going to go and tell you I don’t want to be better. I absolutely need to be better if we’re going to win — I can't be giving up that many goals. But when I’m looking, when I’m watching video and looking back on my game, I'm not seeing a goal like, ‘oh, I’ve got to have that.”
At times Hellebuyck kept the Jets somewhat close in the series, but the 30-year-old netminder also allowed the most goals by any goalie. The next closest backstop was Los Angeles’ Cam Talbot who let in 16 (eight less than Hellebuyck) and was later benched for former Jet David Rittich.
“Looking back, I don’t know if I even saw half of the pucks that went into the net. They did a great job, but for me to not be able to put my foot down even in a single game is really heartbreaking. It’s not typically how I do things,” said Hellebuyck.
Hellebuyck’s -6.47 goals saved above expected is also the worst of any goalie in the playoffs so far.
The star netminder’s playoff struggles didn’t come out of nowhere either. Despite being a top goaltender since joining the league in 2015, Hellebuyck has struggled to find the dominant levels to his game in recent playoff runs.
Since 2020, Hellebuyck has a 6-12 record, winning only one playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers. In those 18 games he has had a below average .900 save percentage and a subpar 3.30 goals against average.
Although there is a lot to learn in a quick five-game series like this one, Hellebuyck hopes this is the last time the Jets have to.
“I’d like to think this is hopefully the last learning curve that we’re going to go through, but… I mean, we were so good. You can't imagine you’d be good for 82 games and then you just don’t… you’re just not there, you’re not the same team.”
“I hope we’re going to learn that this is the small difference between playoffs and the regular season,” he added.
Hellebuyck felt humbled after getting pulled for the third period in Game 4, something that has never happened in his playoff career.
“That was my mindset, I needed to do this alone,” he said. “That was the realization that I need to be part of this team more than I am, and to take everything onto my shoulders, I’m talking me personally, that’s not me talking against the team, it's just the way my mentality is.”
“I think what I need to do is just dive into a team game even more, and that will hopefully bring me peace of mind.”
Last offseason Hellebuyck signed a seven-year, $59.5 million contract extension with the Jets, which has a no-move clause through the first three years of the deal and a modified no-trade clause through its final four.
Hellebuyck didn’t rule out the possibility of joining team USA at the IIHF World Championship starting next Friday in Czechia, but it seems highly unlikely.
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