I’m currently writing a piece on which prospects have the best chance of making the Winnipeg Jets next year, but these few paragraphs morphed into a story of its own, so I’m running this today ahead of the broader story.
And yes, it’s about goaltending, which we have written at length about over the past few weeks but a) it’s the offseason, so cut me some slack and b) it is a topic that probably deserves some discussion now in preparation for what will likely be, again, a long conversation during the regular season.
When writing about each prospects chances of making the Jets, I came across Connor Hellebyuck and wondered, ‘What exactly does Kevin Cheveldayoff and company do if Hellebuyck shows he’s ready for the National Hockey League early this season?’
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The simplest and likeliest solution would be to send Hellebuyck to the Manitoba Moose to start the season and ride with Ondrej Pavelec and Michael Hutchinson as they did last season. But that’s an easy, no-mess answer for Jets management. Some could make a good argument that Hellebuyck is the best goaltender in the Jets system.
He has already posted really good peripheral numbers in his one year in the American Hockey League (2.58 goals against average with a .921 save percentage in 58 games last season) and is coming off an even more spectacular performance with Team USA at the World Championships. If his play continues in the early going of this year, at some point he’s going to force a decision on the Jets.
Ondrej Pavelec has $3.9-million dollars left in each of his last two season of his contract. Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports
Pavelec had a good start to the regular season and was tremendous down the stretch for the Jets last season (1.36 GAA and .949 save percentage in 14 games in March/April), but had his Pavelecian moments in between. He’s making a shade under four million dollars the next two seasons before becoming an unrestricted free agent. With each passing year, the contract begins to look less onerous but it’s still difficult in seeing the value in moving on from him and leaving Hellebuyck and Hutchinson as an inexperienced one-two tandem.
Which leads us to Hutchinson, a guy we are all still trying to figure out. Was his strong first half (.935 save percentage and 1.90 GAA) a sign of things to come or was his second half (.885 / 2.97) more in tune of what we should expect? That may have to be a question the Jets will have to answer as, barring any injuries and assuming Hellebuyck continues to wow, Hutchinson may lose his job at some point to Hellebuyck and the Jets goaltending transition will begin.