{"id":761624,"date":"2026-06-26T13:31:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/761624\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T13:31:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:31:15","slug":"connor-hellebuyck-and-the-case-for-the-winnipeg-jets-to-trade-up-at-the-nhl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/761624\/","title":{"rendered":"Connor Hellebuyck and the case for the Winnipeg Jets to trade up at the NHL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the new NHL, where even the descendants of Winnipeg Jets stars collude to orchestrate trades to Florida.<\/p>\n

If you were the Jets, dealing with the challenge of maximizing value for Connor Hellebuyck the summer after losing Nikolaj Ehlers to free agency and three years after honouring Pierre-Luc Dubois\u2019 trade request to Los Angeles, you might take a moment to laugh. The NBA-ification of the NHL may come as a shock in other markets but Winnipeg is well versed in the idea of a player saying, \u201cI love this place but I want out of it.\u201d The Jets were born here. The rest of the NHL is just catching up.<\/p>\n

For Winnipeg, the idea of star U.S.-born players orchestrating American exits is not the story. It is the exclamation mark at the end of it. For the Jets, the new reality is the same as it\u2019s always been and the conclusion is the same one it\u2019s always needed to reach. Winnipeg can\u2019t win by making the signings and trades the way the Panthers do.<\/p>\n

The Jets can only win by excelling at the less celebrated facets of teambuilding \u2014 drafting, developing, and retaining youth. By building a community of misfits, making value plays on underappreciated veterans, and by finding players who prefer the exhale of a prairie sky to the bustle of a big city. By being so obviously all-in on creating the best on- and off-ice experience available for its NHL players \u2014 off-ice luxuries, development coaches, training and recovery experts, and more \u2014 that they are as good at developing NHL talent as Florida is at being sunny.<\/p>\n

Is Viggo Bjorck the best center in the NHL Draft?<\/p>\n

Corey Pronman, Scott Wheeler and more<\/p>\n

This is a big picture concept with immediate-term implications. It is paramount that Winnipeg makes its first-round pick, currently No. 8.<\/p>\n

Today, we make the case for the Jets to improve upon it.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg\u2019s best route to elite talent that stays in Winnipeg has always been the draft. Draft picks remain under team control until their mid-20s. They build relationships with the city and develop insights into the community that outsiders can\u2019t understand. And, when Winnipeg does a good enough job drafting and developing players, it wins \u2014 the most important recruitment tool at the Jets\u2019 disposal. Remember that Hellebuyck\u2019s presumed openness to an exit is not the result of disdain for Winnipeg. It is the product of a 33-year-old star player with one glaring hole on his NHL resume and the awareness that careers are short.<\/p>\n

The Jets have never been, and may never be, a premier destination for top UFA talent or players with trade protection. But they\u2019ve been better at retaining their best players \u2014Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele in this generation, Blake Wheeler before them \u2014 when management has been able to sell them on a realistic path to playoff success.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s that path now? Excelling at \u201cthe less celebrated facets of teambuilding\u201d must include winning at the draft. There are only two ways to do that: Quantity, which we discussed in this piece that included analysis of ways to trade down,<\/a> and quality. There is a steep decline in talent from the No. 1 pick in most draft years, with Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg the projected 1A and 1B players in this class. If Winnipeg won\u2019t trade down from No. 8, adding multiple shots at a top-six, top-four type of talent, why not up \u2014 perhaps to No. 4 or even No. 2, where the odds of a franchise player are just a little bit higher?<\/p>\n

The Sharks\u2019 pick at No. 2 is on the market, with \u201croughly five teams\u201d showing serious interest<\/a>. Stenberg would be the obvious selection, with so much offensive talent, great hands, and a high-end shot that has experts projecting top-line potential. At No. 4, there\u2019s a case for Carson Carels, the projected top pairing defenceman from Cypress River, Man., who\u2019s expected to be out of reach for Winnipeg at No. 8. He\u2019s big, mean, scored 20 goals and 73 points for Prince George in the WHL last season, and has been balancing pre-draft preparation with calving duty on the farm.<\/p>\n

Buffalo also has a viable second-line centre in Josh Norris, an established veteran goaltender in Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and an intriguing prospect pool that includes 6-foot-6, right-shot defenceman Radim Mrtka \u2014 not to mention centre Konsta Helenius, who the Sabres are unlikely to move. And if the Jets want a goaltending prospect back instead of at 27 year old in Luukkonen, there\u2019s Devon Levi. There should be enough viable pieces for these two teams to make a trade.<\/p>\n

No one is a sure thing, but the higher Winnipeg climbs, the more likely it is to grab one of the top talents in this year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Winnipeg\u2019s No. 8 pick could have been a viable piece of a Brady Tkachuk or Jordan Kyrou trade package, but those players\u2019 no-trade clauses would have gotten in the way. The Jets\u2019 veterans may be cheering for Winnipeg to trade the pick for immediate help, but there must be a life after the current core. The draft is the Jets\u2019 best long-term route to elite talent, with multiple years of team control and the relationship building that comes with it.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the sheer number of top-10 picks already in play.<\/p>\n

Ottawa acquired the No. 9 pick (and the No. 25 pick, a 2029 first-round pick and a 2027 second-round pick) for Brady Tkachuk
\nSan Jose then acquired the No. 9 pick for William Eklund, Kasper Halttunen, and Brandon Svoboda
\nBuffalo acquired the No. 4 pick (and the No. 45 pick, along with Louis Crevier) for Bowen Byram and Jordan Greenway<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a certainty that the Sabres peddle the No. 4 pick as currency, the same way that Ottawa did with the No. 9, but it could be a compelling part of a Hellebuyck deal<\/a>. If the Jets had more of their own draft capital, it\u2019s also possible to imagine a world where they\u2019d be able to move up to No. 4 from No. 8.<\/p>\n

The flurry of trades leaves the following teams with multiple first-round picks:<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks (No. 2, No. 9, and No. 27)
\nVancouver Canucks (No. 3 and No. 24)
\nBuffalo Sabres (No. 4 and No. 20)
\nNew York Rangers (No. 5 and No. 26)
\nCalgary Flames (No. 6 and No. 30)
\nSt. Louis Blues (No. 11, No. 15, No. 16, and No. 29)
\nOttawa Senators (No. 25 and No. 32)<\/p>\n

What would it cost to add another top pick?<\/p>\n

Sharks GM Mike Grier has said that he\u2019s willing to move the No. 2 pick for a piece that helps San Jose in the immediate term. The Jets don\u2019t have a spare Bowen Byram hanging around, although one subscriber pitched Dylan Samberg for the second pick in our \u201cWho says no?\u201d mailbag<\/a>. The Sabres\u2019 cap issues are essentially resolved with their sign-and-trade of Alex Tuch to the Washington Capitals. Outside of something truly shocking, involving Samberg, Josh Morrissey, or another core player, it looks like Hellebuyck is the most viable route.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the Jets\u2019 habit to make several moves in succession, as the Panthers and then Senators did earlier this week, but it\u2019s clear that first-round picks are liquid currency right now. If Winnipeg insists that it\u2019s a win-now team, then a trade that added the No. 4 as part of a Hellebuyck trade could be followed by a secondary deal involving the No. 8 pick. The obvious hope would be for Carels or whoever the Jets drafted inside the Top-5 to be marginally better than options available at No. 8, so as to give Winnipeg value in the deal.<\/p>\n

As always, the simplest play is the most likely: I think that Winnipeg will make the No. 8 pick on Friday. If they do so, they\u2019re likely to get a very good prospect in Daxon Rudolph, Keaton Verhoeff, or even Viggo Bj\u00f6rck if he falls that far. The idea of trading down must also be tempting, prioritizing quantity of first-round picks over quality \u2014 especially if St. Louis were willing to trade the No. 11 and No. 15 or 16 picks to get No. 8.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg\u2019s best path to contention is a return to its drafting roots and then a substantial upgrade on its developmental success. The latter may yet involve the hiring of Shane Doan. The former requires Winnipeg to keep its No. 8 pick at the very least and to move up if it\u2019s available to them. The Jets are perhaps the hardest hit Canadian team when it comes to losing talent to the USA, via Jacob Trouba, Dubois, and the possibility of Hellebuyck. They must become the best at navigating what appears to be a growing reality for Canadian teams<\/a> throughout the league.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to the new NHL, where even the descendants of Winnipeg Jets stars collude to orchestrate trades to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85,6000],"class_list":["post-761624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-winnipeg-jets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}