\u201cYou don\u2019t really like change,\u201d Alex DeBrincat said at the NHL\/NHLPA player media tour this week. \u201cIt feels uncomfortable for a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Winnipeg Jets know the feeling. Connor Hellebuyck\u2019s trade request has also sent shockwaves through that organization. Jets players are entering training camp not knowing whether one of the best goaltenders in the world will be on their team, or if their roster might look completely different with whatever haul general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff can acquire in a prospective trade.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a kick in the gut for both franchises. Neither is far removed from unbridled optimism about the future. Winnipeg won the Presidents\u2019 Trophy in 2024-25, and Detroit sat atop the Atlantic Division more than halfway through the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n
Still, both teams are putting on a brave face while being all but left at the altar.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want Connor to be our goalie. He\u2019s a fantastic goalie, probably the best in the world, so that is what would be best,\u201d said Mark Scheifele, who said Hellebuyck\u2019s request was \u201cout of the blue,\u201d despite his worrying comments at the end of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut at the end of the day, that\u2019s the nature of the beast. I love our group, I love the guys that I play with, and I\u2019m very lucky, so I don\u2019t feel left at the altar at all,\u201d Scheifele said.<\/p>\n
DeBrincat, meanwhile, bristled at the idea that Larkin\u2019s trade request and the front-office turmoil has stunted the long-brewing momentum of a rebuild nearly a decade in the making.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly wouldn\u2019t even call it derailed,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we have a majority of our team coming back. Obviously, (Patrick Kane\u2019s) gone, but we got a couple of additions that are really going to help us out. So going into the year, we\u2019re looking essentially the same as we were last year. \u2026 I think it\u2019s a fresh start. We can get our minds set and get confident again and learn from our mistakes last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, that doesn\u2019t take away the hurt when a friend and teammate wants out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sucks,\u201d DeBrincat said. \u201cDoesn\u2019t really change what we think of him. He\u2019s still a great player. He\u2019s been a great friend and a great teammate to me, and we obviously love him here. That\u2019s kind of for him to answer: what\u2019s next for him. But for us, I think it\u2019s all the same. We\u2019re happy to see him at the rink and happy to get started.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeBrincat \u2014 Detroit\u2019s leading scorer last season with 41 goals and 44 assists for a career-high 85 points \u2014 notched his third career 40-goal season, and he\u2019s only 28. He\u2019s entering the last year of his contract, however, and not long ago he flexed his way out of an uncomfortable situation in Ottawa. Might he do it again if the Red Wings take a turn for the worse, the rebuild topping out with a near miss?<\/p>\n
![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2255089829-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Alex DeBrincat is well aware of what teammate Dylan Larkin is going through as he engineered a trade out of an undesirable situation in Ottawa. (Vitor Munhoz \/ NHLI via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning is very important to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we\u2019re a lot closer than people are giving us credit for. For being in Detroit, I\u2019ve said it all along, I love it here. Ultimately, that\u2019s where I want to end up. But there\u2019s a lot of things that go into that, so we\u2019ll see what happens when a new GM comes in. But overall, I love the guys, I love the team, love playing for the Red Wings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scheifele and Hellebuyck signed matching seven-year deals to stay in Winnipeg on Oct. 9, 2023, after hearing out Cheveldayoff\u2019s pitch for the Jets\u2019 long-term future. Scheifele, for one, still believes in it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy focus is more on myself and what I can do better to help the Winnipeg Jets win, and then be there as a friend for Connor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s old is new again in Toronto<\/p>\n
The Toronto Maple Leafs, as they always are, were a hot topic of conversation as players shuffled through their interview assignments in Las Vegas. New GM John Chayka has drastically remade the roster after the Leafs missed the postseason, giving new coach Jim Hiller plenty of options, including defenseman Darren Raddysh and forwards Jack Roslovic, Nick Paul, Colton Sissons, Brandon Duhaime and Teddy Blueger.<\/p>\n
Still, it\u2019s the new goalie \u2014 who\u2019s an old goalie \u2014 who might be the biggest factor in whether the Leafs contend for a playoff spot in the brutal Atlantic Division. Two-time Stanley Cup champion Sergei Bobrovsky is the new man in the crease for Toronto. Of course, Bobrovsky is coming off perhaps the worst season of his career (he was 90th of 91 goalies with minus-23.66 goals saved above average) and turns 38 years old this month.<\/p>\n
Nobody in Las Vegas doubted he\u2019d bounce back, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty fired up,\u201d Leafs center John Tavares said. \u201cPlayed against him for a long time. At times, I\u2019ve had success. A lot of times, I\u2019ve had some trouble against him. As he\u2019s aged, and how he takes care of himself, has become kind of legendary, and who he is as a goaltender and an athlete. Really excited to be around him because of his skill set, the pedigree, what he\u2019s going to bring to the team and the quality of goaltender he is. But also the leadership aspect, because of how he goes about his business and what he invests and what the sport means to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auston Matthews’ most memorable moments with Maple Leafs<\/p>\n
Bobrovsky\u2019s work ethic is what made him so successful and so popular with the Florida Panthers. And it\u2019s why so many expect him to play for years to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no one like him,\u201d Panthers star Aleksander Barkov said. \u201cThe way he was (in Florida) for seven seasons, it was just incredible. We\u2019re gonna miss him a lot as a person. As a goalie and a person, he was a great person, really that type of guy who you look up to every single day, what he does. Me personally, I learned so much from him just watching him, just looking at him, just seeing what he does day to day, how he tries to get better. Even at his age. I think he\u2019s what, 37, 38? He feels like and looks like he\u2019s early 30s, maybe even late 20s. That\u2019s what you want to be, as a perfect human being and athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why Matthew Schaefer is poised to avoid sophomore slump<\/p>\n
Now that he\u2019s Matthew Schaefer: Calder Trophy winner, rising megastar, paradigm shifter and television darling, it\u2019s difficult to imagine the New York Islanders defenseman feeling unsure of himself. Yet, a year ago this month, that\u2019s exactly how he felt.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou go into your first year, you don\u2019t know what to expect,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re at training camp, rookie camp, and you\u2019re a little nervous, because you don\u2019t know many guys there. You\u2019re coming in and it\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those nerves have given way to an indefatigable enthusiasm and confidence as Schaefer takes his place among the game\u2019s elite. He had 23 goals and 36 assists in 82 games and didn\u2019t turn 19 until last week, a staggering performance for a defenseman so young. Still, Schaefer believes he\u2019s just getting started.<\/p>\n
After rattling off who helped him get comfortable in his rookie season \u2014 the coaches, his teammates, the staff, and, of course, his landlords, the family of Matt Martin \u2014 Schaefer said he\u2019s poised for an even bigger sophomore campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will always have the highest expectations. Last year was good, but I think I can be even better this year. I\u2019ve learned a lot in the summer and I\u2019ve gotten bigger, stronger, faster and I\u2019ve put on some weight, which is awesome,\u201d Schaefer said. \u201cIt took me the first little bit of the season to get going. I want to come out the gates going right away and carry it through the whole season.\u201d<\/p>\n
And because this has been the summer of soaring salaries, Schaefer\u2019s future earning potential also increased significantly. He\u2019s not eligible to sign an extension until next July, but could he become the NHL\u2019s next $20 million-a-year man before he\u2019s even 20?<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s great for the league,\u201d he said of the changing economic landscape. \u201cBut I\u2019m a player; I\u2019m not an agent. At the end of the day, my agent can worry about that. Math was fun, but it\u2019s not what I\u2019m good at.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Filip Forsberg trusts the process despite prospect of lengthy rebuild<\/p>\n