GM: 'Door open' for star goalie Hellebuyck to remain with Jets

Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff didn't rule out the possibility that star goaltender Connor Hellebuyck could remain with the team after going public with a trade demand.

The Jets formally suspended Hellebuyck on Wednesday for failure to report to training camp. The 33-year-old goaltender requested a trade during exit interviews after last season, his 11th with the franchise. Hellebuyck won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in 2025 and has won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goaltender three times, being a finalist for the award five times.

"No doors are closed. He's a player that's under contract for five years. But at the end of the day, that's his choice," said Cheveldayoff at the opening of training camp on Thursday.

Cheveldayoff said there's no timeline for trading his star goaltender, something the Jets have been trying to do for "a long period of time," including during last June's NHL draft. While he pushed back on a report this week that categorized the offers for Hellebuyck as "terrible," the Jets GM said, "There's been nothing that's allowed us to say, 'OK, this works for both teams.'"

Hellebuyck and his agent made their trade demand public with a statement in late August, saying "I have tried to handle the situation quietly and respectfully while giving the organization time to explore its options" in trading him.

"When Connor requested being traded, we kept it quiet. That was partly on his request as well. And we tried to make that work and we've been trying to make that work ever since," Cheveldayoff said.

There's been a wave of speculation about why Hellebuyck has asked out of Winnipeg just two seasons into a seven-year contract extension that he signed in Oct. 2023.

Cheveldayoff was asked about comments Hellebuyck made about the "blowback" his wife Andrea received after the goaltender led Team USA to Olympic gold in the 2026 Winter Olympics over Team Canada. Hellebuyck attended the State of the Union Address with all but five of his teammates, where President Donald Trump announced that the goalie would be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

"What they endured, they shouldn't have had to," said Cheveldayoff of the social media abuse.

TSN reported this week that Hellebuyck will not waive his no-movement clause to join any of the six other Canadian NHL teams.

"I'm not going to get into the specific teams. My guess is to what his restrictions are in those regards. Again, the choices that he makes are the choices that he makes. I don't have an understanding as to why he made some of the choices that he made when talking about those kind of situations," Cheveldayoff said.

There's also been speculation about a "gentlemen's agreement" that might have been made between Cheveldayoff and Hellebuyck when the goalie re-signed in Winnipeg, that if he asked out during his contract, that request would be honored.

"A contract is a contract in the National Hockey League, period. There are no side agreements, there's no general agreements. The league doesn't allow for that. So I guess the fact is any notion around that would not have any merit," Cheveldayoff said.

The Jets GM was also asked if there was a "promise" made to Hellebuyck and Jets star center Mark Scheifele that the team would contend for the Stanley Cup annually when both players signed their extensions in Oct. 2023.

"Promise is an interesting word. We've been a team that's tried to be as competitive as we possibly can each and every year," he said.

But overall, the Jets GM wasn't looking to explore why Hellebuyck wanted out.

"I guess in my mind it's irrelevant. In my mind, I have to deal with the situation that's in front of me. Connor's made the choices and we'll just deal with him moving forward," he said.

The Jets GM addressed the challenge in trying to move Hellebuyck. Beyond finding a deal that helps Winnipeg stay competitive and Hellebuyck's trade protection, Cheveldayoff said it's a smaller market when trying to trade a No. 1 goalie vs. other positions.

"If you're a team that has a bona fide No. 1 goaltender and he's locked up and he's yours, you're probably not interested. And it's not disparaging Connor Hellebuyck or anything like that. It's just the goalie market in general," he said. "So the fact of the matter that a team might be on the list as an available option has a No. 1 goaltender, well, that's kind of a moot point."

Hellebuyck will begin losing salary if he's still suspended when the NHL regular season starts. His $8.5 million average annual value will not count against the Jets' salary cap.