Hellebuyck, who helped the United States win the gold medal at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, was 23-23-11 with a 2.86 goals-against average and .895 save percentage in 57 NHL games last season. Winnipeg (35-35-12) finished eight points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
After the season, Hellebuyck had this to say about the Jets and their ability to win the Stanley Cup:
“It’s hard. It’s hard. Can you get the pieces that you need? Will the players come? These are always questions that you have in Winnipeg,” he said on April 18. “I’ve made it my home and I like it here, but the majority of the League doesn’t feel the same way.”
On June 26, Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said Winnipeg was listening to trade offers for Hellebuyck, but he did not provide a definitive answer as to whether his franchise goalie had requested a move.
“Certainly, as an organization we're going to listen,” Cheveldayoff said. “Everyone saw (Hellebuyck’s) press conference at the end of the year. He was passionate. Certainly, in our exit meetings we had some frank conversations as well, but again, what happens in those meetings certainly stays private.”
Hellebuyck has been one of the best goalies in the NHL since he entered the League during the 2015-16 season.
In 2024-25, he had his best individual season, going 47-12-3 with a 2.00 GAA, .925 save percentage and eight shutouts in 63 games. He won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player, the Vezina Trophy for the third time, and helped the Jets win the Presidents' Trophy as the team with the League's best record (56-22-4).
Hellebuyck, 33, is entering the third season of a seven-year, $59.5 million contract ($8.5 million average annual value) he signed on Oct. 9, 2023.
He has played his entire 11-season NHL career for Winnipeg, which selected him in the fifth round (No. 130) of the 2012 NHL Draft. Since entering the League, he leads goalies in games played (625) and starts (615), and is second in wins (345). Among goalies to play at least 300 games during that span, his .916 save percentage is third, and his 2.58 GAA is tied for seventh.
Hellebuyck is one of four goalies, along with Dominik Hasek, Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy, to win the Vezina Trophy at least three times (2019-20, 2023-24, 2024-25) since NHL general managers began voting on the award in 1981.
The Jets signed goalie Stuart Skinner to a two-year, $7.5 million contract ($3.75 million AAV) on July 1. Their top goalie prospect, Domenic DiVincentiis, was 13-16-2 with a 3.03 GAA and .896 save percentage in 34 games with Manitoba of the American Hockey League last season. The 22-year-old has yet to play in the NHL.
"I appreciate everything Winnipeg Jets fans have meant to me throughout my career and hope a resolution can be reached soon," Hellebuyck said.
