Did the Golden Knights have a chance at trading for Connor Hellebuyck?

Danny Webster, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Oct 23, 2026

Published in Hockey

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LAS VEGAS — The Connor Hellebuyck saga is over.

After nearly two months of drama, the Winnipeg Jets sent the three-time Vezina Trophy winning goaltender to the New Jersey Devils on Friday for four players and two draft picks.

The best goaltender in the world is on his way to New Jersey, which will be at T-Mobile Arena on Oct. 30 to face the Vegas Golden Knights.

That game is suddenly one to circle on the calendar, especially if Hellebuyck is ready to play by then. Hellebuyck participated in neither training camp nor the Jets’ first 10 games of the season.

First thing’s first: The Knights wrap up their two-game road trip Saturday against the last-place Columbus Blue Jackets.

But there are likely some fans looking at this trade wondering why the Knights didn’t try to force their way into the sweepstakes for the 33-year-old Hellebuyck.

Of course they kicked the tires, and it’s not just because the Knights are linked to every big name that hits the trade market. Any team would love to have a goalie of Hellebuyck’s caliber still at the onset of his prime.

Two key reasons, as multiple league sources told the Review-Journal over the past two weeks, never put the Knights at the front of the line.

First, it would have required the Knights to move one of Adin Hill or Carter Hart. That’s self-explanatory. The Jets would have wanted a starting-caliber goalie with NHL experience to fill the void.

Hill would have made the most sense from a money standpoint. Hellebuyck carries a cap hit of $8.5 million, while Hill at $6.25 million wouldn’t have put the Knights far off.

But that was never going to happen because Hill has Winnipeg on his 10-team no-trade list, according to sources. Hill, who has five years left on his six-year extension, has an eight-team list the next two seasons and a six-team list in the final two.

There’s no guarantee that the Jets would have been keen on adding Hart. Nico Daws, the goaltender acquired from New Jersey, is 25 years old and still has upside with 59 NHL games under his belt.

General manager Kelly McCrimmon believes in the Hill-Hart tandem. Both have gotten off to strong starts to the season despite each giving up six goals in their past respective starts.

The second reason is simpler. The Jets did not want to deal Hellebuyck to another Western Conference team.

The Utah Mammoth were seen as a perfect landing spot because of their prospect pool and win-now mentality. But at the end of the day, the Jets were not going to make an intra-division trade, let alone the team leading the Central Division 11 games into the season.

It would had to take a monster offer from the Knights to consider trading Hellebuyck to not just a team in the West, but a team that was just in the Stanley Cup Final last season and has knocked the Jets out twice before in the playoffs.

The Devils provided the right mix of prospects, and being a team in the Eastern Conference that is ready to take a jump into contention — health pending, of course.

Between this and the drama surrounding Dylan Larkin, the Knights won’t be short on being involved in trade talks involving top players.

There may be situations, like Hellebuyck, where the cards just aren’t in their favor.