FEATURE: Evolving In the Crease

Connor Hellebuyck attended Winnipeg Jets development camp for four straight summers from 2012 to 2016, but a memory from the 2014 edition of the week-long camp will always stand out for a very specific reason.
That summer, Hellebuyck had just finished his second season at University of Massachusetts-Lowell. He won the inaugural version of the Mike Richter Award, given to the NCAA's Top Collegiate Goalie, and backstopped the River Hawks to the second round of the national championship tournament while sporting a 0.942 save percentage all season.
But even strolling into development camp with those accolades didn't make that week in July stand out.
It stands out because that was when he and goaltending coach Wade Flaherty started a conversation that continues to this day.

"I had some individual sessions with him," Hellebuyck recalls. "He was doing some drills and he was teaching back and forth, and what I liked about him was that it wasn't 'do this, this is what works.' It was an open-ended discussion on what works for me, and how can we make it better. Right away, we just got along so great."
The Jets selected Hellebuyck in the fifth round of the 2012 NHL Draft following his lone season in the North American Hockey League with the Odessa Jackalopes. It was an impactful season, to say the least, as the organization retired Hellebuyck's number in March of 2022. Hellebuyck went 26-21-5 with a 0.930 save percentage and three shutouts, helping the Jackalopes to the postseason.
He carried that momentum into the NCAA, where he was between the pipes for two seasons. It was during that time that Flaherty started to receive video of the Jets prospect.
"He was a stud," Flaherty said. "Right there, you're getting excited."
It would've been hard not to. By the end of his freshman season, Hellebuyck was named the Hockey East Goaltender of the Year as the team won its first divisional title and made the NCAA Frozen Four for the first time. Hellebuyck helped the squad repeat that Hockey East championship the following season, and the Michigan product earned a repeat of tournament MVP honours.
So yes, a stud.
But like all athletes moving to the next level, there are always things to learn. So as Hellebuyck and Flaherty developed their relationship as coach and player, they also worked on the goaltender's game.
For Hellebuyck, one of the early aspects was what Flaherty calls post play, and it was something Hellebuyck was open to learning more about.
"He didn't have a reverse VH when he came out of college. He spent a lot of time in St. John's working on it," said Flaherty, who showed Hellebuyck video and asked him his thoughts on it throughout the process.
"It's not 'you have to do this,'" Flaherty said. "It's 'what do you think about this?' Sometimes it's a stronger suggestion, but usually there are underlying things."

While Hellebuyck worked on that, he earned an American Hockey League All-Star nod, and posted a 28-22-6 record for the IceCaps with six shutouts - the third most in the AHL. In the spring, he helped the USA to a bronze medal at the 2015 IIHF World Hockey Championship.
Impressive for someone still tweaking and working on his game.
Still, Hellebuyck and Flaherty had more to come, and their relationship was growing by the day.
"What I've found is he's really good at planting the seed. He's not going to tell you right or wrong. He's going to plant the seed of an idea," said Hellebuyck. "He respects me enough, and trusts me enough, that he knows I'm going to do everything it takes to figure out what is the best scenario. He plants the seed and knows I'm going to go analyze it and figure out what works for me."
Flaherty's approach to coaching was forged during his own pro hockey career, which began in 1989 with the Kalamazoo Wings of the International Hockey League and ended in 2008 with the American Hockey League's Rockford IceHogs.
He had NHL stops with the San Jose Sharks, the New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, and Vancouver Canucks along the way.
"When I was a player, I had to learn on my own. Goalie coaches weren't around," Flaherty said. "Later in my career, I had goalie coaches and I was fortunate to have some really good ones and some guys that were 'my way or the highway' idea.
"I always thought, even before I was coaching, that if I was ever to get into coaching that would be my philosophy."
He spent two seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks (2009-2011) as their goaltending coach before returning to Winnipeg, where he played 117 games with the Manitoba Moose from 2004 to 2007 - as the Jets goaltending coach to start the 2011 campaign.
He's stayed true to that word the whole time, keeping his relationship with the organization's goaltenders as more of a "roundtable discussion," which Hellebuyck appreciates.
What happens during successful times, like Hellebuyck's rise from prospect in 2012 to starting goaltender for the 2016-17 season can be helpful for a relationship.

However, sometimes it's the challenging times that can be even better.
Hellebuyck started 53 games that season, but was being pulled more than he liked.
"That was before Paul (Maurice) really understood me," Hellebuyck said. "Flats would always have my back in the meeting room. He'd always say 'let him battle it out, let him fight it out.'"
That's exactly what Hellebuyck did. In 2016-17 had a 0.907 save percentage, four shutouts, and 26 wins. He blew those numbers out of the water in 2017-18, racking up six shutouts, 44 wins, and a 0.922 save percentage.
All of those are career highs that he's still chasing to this day.
Hellebuyck's work ethic had a lot to do with that success, as did his experience with Adam Francilia at the Net360 goaltending camp in Kelowna, BC. The camp is put on by Hellebuyck's agent, Ray Petkau, and is just a short three-hour drive from Flaherty's off-season home.
Collective bargaining agreement rules prevent NHL coaches from being on the ice and working with players in the off-season, and Flaherty was aware of that. Still, he wanted to be there in some capacity - while respecting the CBA - just so he could know how to help Hellebuyck when the season started.
"You can see the transformation in Helly in his body in the sense of when he plays, with his core, the muscles, the setting up," said Flaherty. "That's where Adam comes in big."
Flaherty encourages his goaltenders to hear different voices than his own in the off-season. He says there is certainly a limit, as the more voices one hears, the more chance they conflict with one another and create confusion.
But the effort Flaherty went to, in the best interest of Hellebuyck's development, stands out to the now 29-year-old.
"He wants to learn with me. We started developing a new style together. That becomes two minds working on the same goal, the same structure," said Hellebuyck. "That's when things really took off for us. He was learning and adapting, I was learning and adapting, and we were combining the two."

He finished as a finalist for the Vezina Trophy in 2017-18, as the Jets made it all the way to the Western Conference Final. Two years later, Hellebuyck earned that Vezina, capping off a 2019-20 season that saw him face more shots and play more minutes than any other goaltender in the NHL - even with the shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hellebuyck was fishing when he got the call from general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, informing him of his accomplishment. After calling his family to tell them the news, Hellebuyck's phone rang again.
It was Flaherty.
"He was so stoked for me, and I kept telling him 'stoked for us.' We did this together," Hellebuyck said. "We didn't know when it was going to come, we knew it was going to come, but we didn't know when. The fact it came so early is a testament to how we both were so focused on learning and getting better together. We jump started a lot of learning curves early in my career."

The learning isn't going to stop, either. Along with various principles from Francilia, Hellebuyck and Flaherty have worked on depth in the net as well as glove positioning.
There are always details to work on, and things are always changing - on the ice and off it.
On November 2, 2021, Hellebuyck and his wife, Andrea, welcomed their first child - Hugh - to the world. Along with being an elite goaltender in the NHL, Hellebuyck was now balancing being a father for the first time.
Flaherty is a father of two, so Hellebuyck leaned on him throughout his son's first year.
"I don't think there was a day that I wasn't having a conversation about what's going on in my life and the change," said Hellebuyck. "Honestly, I thought it helped."
Once again, that open discussion between Hellebuyck and Flaherty paid off, even with a topic that had nothing to do with stopping pucks.
"My first one was born in the middle of the season," said Flaherty. "There is a lot to do with the player and goalie coach relationship. It's a professional relationship on one side, it's also a friendship.
"That being said, there are certain things that me and Connor will talk about that will stay with us. That may be hockey related, that may be family related. But I'm not going off to the head coach, or anybody. It stays between us."
This season, Hellebuyck is off to another strong start. Day in and day out, he and Flaherty stick to their routine of video, conversations, and on-ice work.
Even if the drills look the same, there is always a particular detail being worked on so when the time comes in a game that the Jets need a big stop, Hellebuyck can make that save.
"He knows I like failure. That's what teaches me," Hellebuyck said. "If he's just drilling it into my head, it's going to bring my confidence down and bring the swing of how you learn down. He plants a good seed and let's me grow it."