Hellebuyck Trade Sends Jets Star Goalie to the Devils

The Hellebuyck trade is finally done, and it rewrites the NHL goalie market overnight. According to NHL.com, the Winnipeg Jets sent three-time Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck to the New Jersey Devils on Friday, ending a standoff that began when he asked out of Winnipeg during the offseason.

The timing is wild. The move landed on the exact day his team suspension was scheduled to end, and just two days before the Jets face the Montreal Canadiens outdoors at the Heritage Classic.

What the Hellebuyck trade actually includes

Winnipeg gets a big package back. Per the Associated Press, the Devils sent center Dawson Mercer, goalie Nico Daws, prospect Alexander Command, forward Nick Bjugstad, a second-round pick in 2029 and a seventh-round pick in 2027 to the Jets.

Command is the intriguing name. The eighteen-year-old was the twelfth overall pick in the 2026 draft and has been playing in Sweden, where NHL.com notes he has twelve points in six games with the junior side of Orebro. Bjugstad is a different story, since he has not played this season after surgery for a torn pectoral muscle and was expected to be out four to six months.

How the standoff got here

The saga started when Hellebuyck revealed before training camp that he had asked for a trade. The Jets suspended him on September sixteenth after he failed to report, and that suspension was set to expire on the very day the deal was announced. He was heading into the third season of a seven-year contract that carries an annual cap hit of eight and a half million dollars.

Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said he was comfortable with the outcome but admitted he wished the deal had come together months earlier. According to NHL.com, Devils general manager Sunny Mehta described the talks as moving from a loose conversation to a finished trade in less than two days.

A resume that is hard to ignore

This is not a depth move. Hellebuyck is thirty-three years old and won the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 2024-25, joining only a handful of goalies to take both the Hart and the Vezina. That year he posted a two point zero zero goals-against average, a save percentage of point nine two five and eight shutouts across sixty-three games.

He also won gold with Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics. In Winnipeg he leaves as the franchise leader in games played, starts, wins and shutouts, with three hundred forty-five wins and forty-five shutouts in six hundred twenty-five regular-season games.

The warning sign in the numbers

Here is the part Devils fans should note. Last season was rough by his standards. He went twenty-three wins, twenty-three losses and eleven in overtime, with a goals-against average of two point eight six and a save percentage of point eight nine five, the lowest of his eleven seasons, and he had no shutouts for the first time.

The Jets also missed the playoffs by eight points, so some of that dip may reflect the team in front of him. Still, New Jersey is paying a high price in bodies and picks for a goalie coming off a down year, and he has not played a meaningful game since.

What it means for Winnipeg

The Jets are not left empty-handed in net. They signed Stuart Skinner to a two-year deal in July and claimed Clay Stevenson off waivers, and Daws now gives them a third option. Cheveldayoff said the plan is to carry three goalies for now and evaluate things as the situation settles.

Mercer, a twenty-four-year-old who scored at least twenty goals three times in five NHL seasons before this one, adds scoring depth and some flexibility. Winnipeg also gets a first look at its new pieces on Sunday night, when the Jets host Montreal at Princess Auto Stadium, as reported by NHL.com. You can follow more on the Canada page of this site.

The Hellebuyck trade also lands in a busy week for hockey in Canada, with the Heritage Classic putting Winnipeg and Montreal under the open sky. Fans in Manitoba now get a bittersweet storyline, since the franchise goalie who carried the team for eleven seasons will not be in the crease. For more sports coverage, visit the sports section, where the latest scores and moves are collected.

When does Hellebuyck play for New Jersey?

That is still unclear. NHL.com says it is not known when the goalie will debut, though the Devils visit Winnipeg on November tenth, which would make for an awkward homecoming. Hellebuyck has said he has been skating hard in Michigan and does not expect a long adjustment once he practices at NHL speed.

Either way, the Hellebuyck trade turns a tense, months-long drama into a fresh storyline for two teams. New Jersey gets a proven star and a real shot at a deep run, while Winnipeg gets assets, three goalies and a lot to prove.