The article discusses the current standoff between Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck and his team over contract negotiations. It argues that despite the NHL's expansion and profit distribution, star players like Hellebuyck have significant leverage due to their talent scarcity and market value. The author predicts that Hellebuyck will ultimately prevail in this situation, potentially leading to a trade to a U.S.-based team such as Buffalo Sabres, with the Jets receiving less than ideal compensation given their current competitive pressures.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-18,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
It’s amusing hearing folks talk about the Connor Hellebuyck situation as if today’s NHL isn’t drastically different from yesterday’s NHL.
asserted
NHL → ’ → NHL
The players are the show more than ever, and they have the critical leverage.
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they → have → leverage
Trying to make fans and media believe that teams are in control of star players in 2026 like they were in 1986 really just insults the intelligence of anyone who understands the basic supply-and-demand dynamics of the modern NHL.
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who → try → NHL
The owners have been quite happy to expand the league to 32 teams while hoarding the profits from “growing the game.”
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owners → expand → game
But the more the league has expanded, the more value and power impact players like Hellebuyck in Winnipeg and Dylan Larkin in Detroit enjoy, and the more teams are desperate for talent.
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teams → expand → talent
That’s why Alex Formenton has a job again.
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Formenton → ’ → job
Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff can pretend all he wants that he’s in charge of the Hellebuyck situation.
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he → pretend → situation
But Hellebuyck will win this standoff in the end.
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Hellebuyck → win → end
He’s the talent and plays the most important position on any team.
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He → ’ → team
There are few netminders, none really, who can boast of his record of three Vézina trophies, a Hart Trophy and an Olympic gold medal.
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who → be → trophies
Layer on to that his $8.5-million (U.S.) average salary with five years remaining on his contract, an absolutely team-friendly deal for an athlete of this calibre at a time other players are making more than twice that amount, and you have a massive asset that a team like the Jets can’t afford to have sitting around doing nothing.
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team → layer → nothing
This is a team that has never won a Stanley Cup, has a small arena and potential softness in its market, but it was also first overall in the league two seasons ago.
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it → win → league
The Jets are under a ton of pressure to get back to winning.
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Jets → get → pressure
Winnipeg fans aren’t going to support a loser.
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fans → go → loser
Given this, you’re going to let Hellebuyck sit and lose hockey games because of some point of principle?
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Hellebuyck → give → principle
Hellebuyck is going to get traded to a U.S.-based team — Buffalo makes a lot of sense — and the Jets aren’t going to get an avalanche of assets in return.
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Jets → go → return
They can do that deal sooner, or they can wait until they start feeling the difficulty of competing for a playoff spot in the Western Conference with Stuart Skinner between the pipes.
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they → do → pipes
Right now, everybody’s losing.
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everybody → lose → ?
The Jets don’t have their player, the fans will soon be paying money to watch a team without its best player, and Hellebuyck is sitting.
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Hellebuyck → have → player
But it’s not hard to look at all of that and realize that the 33-year-old Hellebuyck, with close to $70 million in career earnings, can outwait the team and its fans.
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Hellebuyck → ’ → team
He could miss the season and be just as valuable next summer.
uncertain
He → miss → season
“We’re talking about moving a player that’s very important to this franchise and is a very good player in the National Hockey League,” Cheveldayoff said.
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Cheveldayoff → talk → League
“We expect a level of return that’s commensurate to that.”
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that → expect → that
Well, it’s like selling a house.
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it → ’ → house
You can expect anything you want.
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you → expect → anything
The only thing that matters is what somebody else will pay.
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somebody → matter → what
If the Jets had a viable goaltending option — they don’t — then they’d have more leverage.
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they → have → leverage
If they had a better team that might succeed without its best player, they’d have more leverage.
uncertain
they → have → leverage
If they had a long list of teams able to take on Hellebuyck’s contract and give up meaningful assets for both today and tomorrow, they’d have more leverage.
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they → have → leverage
You might argue recent seasons have proven star goalies aren’t critical to Stanley Cup success and aren’t as valuable.
uncertain
goalies → argue → success
The Carolina Hurricanes and Brandon Bussi proved that again last spring.
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Hurricanes → prove → that
But that doesn’t help the Jets make a deal here.
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Jets → help → deal
Instead, it theoretically undercuts Hellebuyck’s value.
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it → undercut → value
Will a team, or two teams, eventually step forward and make a bona fide trade suggestion?
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team → step → suggestion
But it won’t be the home run the Jets and some of their fans are imagining.
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Jets → imagine → fans
Hellebuyck knows this, which is why he didn’t show up to camp.
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he → know → camp
If he’s playing for Winnipeg, there’s no pressure on the team to move him.
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he → play → him
We can pine for a utopian hockey world in which athletes agreed to contracts and then fulfil those deals.
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athletes → pine → deals
But we don’t live in that world.
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we → live → world
We live in a world where sometimes NHL teams pressure players with no-trade clauses to waive those privileges, and also one in which players sometimes have the hammer and choose to use it.
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players → live → it
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
