On Sunday night after the Connor Helelbuyck recorded his first shutout as a member of the New Jersey Devils, a very interesting thing took place moments after the Devils defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs. General Manager Sunny Mehta announced that Hellebuyck would not be starting Tuesday night when the Devils visit the Winnipeg Jets.
This is one of the most wildest explanations I’ve ever seen. The fact that the Devils are saying that having Hellebuyck “playing in this game would potentially give us a reduction in our expected win probability” is absolutely mindnumbing.
In his postgame availability, Hellebuyck stated he was disappointed in the decision, and that it was “out of his hands,” but even with me that doesn’t pass the sniff test. Then head coach Sheldon Keefe explained that workload played a role in the decision and having Hellebuyck starting 4 games in 8 nights was not ideal and that they are going to look to rest Hellebuyck when they can as they understand that he can’t play every game.
On the most recent episode of 32 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman compared this to when Curtis Joseph made his return to Toronto as a member of the Detroit Red Wings and how poorly it was received by both the fans in Toronto, who wanted to shower him with love, and the Red Wings. If Hellebuyck is truly adamant that he wanted, he would have told Keefe and Mehta that he was going to start the game.
The way Hellebuyck’s time in Winnipeg ended was not a pretty one, and even Hellebuyck said it in his postgame presser that he needs to “face the music” with whatever the Jets fans throw his way. It’s going to happen eventually, and for Hellebuyck and the Devils sake, it would be wiser to have it happen sooner rather than later.
Even with the Devils fans I’m speaking to right now about it, they even would prefer to have Hellebuyck start in Winnipeg to get it out of the way so everyone can move on.
Hellebuyck will have a presser on Tuesday after the morning skate with the Winnipeg press, and I know myself and others will be interested to hear what he has to say.
