This Is Absolutely Pathetic...

Connor Hellebuck is coming back to Winnipeg on Tuesday and he will not play a single minute in that game. Late Sunday the Devils announced that he would not play in this game on Tuesday saying it was due to their expected win probability. They are 5-0 since this trade and they're saying that with Hellebuck in the net they are going to lose this game. I mean that's ridiculous. Tuesday would have been Hellebuck's fourth start in eight days, and head coach Sheldon Keefe cites that the workload is the issue here. Hellebuck's own answer, quote, it'd be nice, but it's out of my hands. And Tuesday morning, he will face the media and tell everybody why he asked out of Winnipeg. So is this workload management, or is he too scared to face the building he walked out on? Hellebuck shut out Toronto 4-0 on Sunday, his third start in eight days after November 3rd against Edmonton and November 5th against St. Louis. At Tuesday in Winnipeg and that is four starts in eight days, which is exactly what Keefe is pointing at. So the workload argument isn't made up, so I'll give him that. Look at what those five starts were. October 27 in Dallas, he stopped 17 of 18 shots. October 30th in Vegas, 19 of 21. November 3rd against Edmonton, it was 18 of 21 in a shootout win. And November 5th against St. Louis, 28 of 32 in overtime. So he is 5-0, but two of those starts came with an under 900 save percentage. The Devils are not leaning on him to survive. New Jersey is 13-5-0 through 18 games, and a team that deep can't afford to sit anybody. The Devils are on a five-game win streak that started on October 30th, and Hellebuck started four of those five wins. General Manager Tom Fitzgerald said on September 18th, quote, I'm very comfortable with our goaltending. Five weeks later, he traded for Hellebuck. Now that same man is telling you that the goalie he went out and traded for would hurt them for one night. That's a hard sell. He has owned the exact opponent before. As a Jet, he was 6-1-0 against New Jersey in seven starts, stopping 26.1 shots a start. Over his five starts as a Devil, he has 1.96 goals against average and a .913 save percentage. The Devils already rested him this week in the first half of a back-to-back on November 7th at the Islanders. So the workload is the reason head coach Sheldon Keefe gave, but the statement from the Devils is a different one. It said playing him would hurt their expected win probability. This goalie just got a shutout two days earlier, and you're trying to tell us that this would hurt your win probability? That's ridiculous. A few excuses at their disposal is how Winnipeg's Connor Hrabchak put it, and he called this one, quote, quite something. To see why that lands so hard in this city, you have to remember how he left. Hellebuck asked for a trade privately after exit meetings last season, and both sides agreed to keep it quiet. A deal with Buffalo got close around the draft in June then died. On August 27th, his agent went public and said moving on was the best path for him and his family. He skipped training camp, the Jets suspended him, in October 2030 he was traded to New Jersey. Through all of that, GM Kevin Chevaldieu would never say why he asked out, and all he would give was a contract is a contract. In 630 NHL games, he has 350 wins and 46 shutouts, which is why the Jets built everything around him. Last season in Winnipeg, he went 23-23-11 with an .895 save percentage. The Hart and Vezina came the season before in 24-25 when he went 47-12-3. On November 1st, the Jets lost 7-0 in Raleigh, and head coach Scott Arniel called it, quote, embarrassing for the organization. It was not the ending anyone envisioned when Hellebuck signed his extension, as Ken Wiebe put it. On November 4th, Hellebuck posted a letter to Jets fans on Instagram. And that was a man that said, quote, I hope they know I care about them. Winnipeg got Dawson Mercer, Nico Dawes, prospect Alexander Komand, Nick Busedda, a 2029 second and a 2027 seventh in this trade. And the one night he needs to answer the call for everything that he put Jets fans through over these last couple of months, he's going to sit out. I mean, that is absolutely ridiculous, man. Like, you have to face the music. If you're going to request a trade... Let all the fans who wear your jersey every single night down, you have to face the music when the time comes and go out there on the ice. And it seems to me, my take, is that he's scared to go out there and get booed by the fans that once cheered for him. And if you're going to make that decision, if you're going to request a trade-out, if you don't want to be a Winnipeg Jet anymore, you have to go out there and answer the call when it is called upon you. And right now, it seems to me like he's chickening out. And the Jets are fine, which makes this whole thing sting more. They are 7-8-3 and have won three straight. They won 5-4 in overtime in Montreal on November 3rd, then beat Vancouver 6-2 on November 5th. Then on Sunday, Mark Scheifele won it against Tampa with .3 seconds left of 4-3 final. Nico Das, who came back from that trade, started at Florida on October 23rd and lost 5-2, facing 37 shots. Dawson Mercer has one goal and seven assists in 18 games this season. Eight of those came with Winnipeg. Dawes has played six games this season with an .886 save percentage and a 2.86 goals against average. Hellebuck's last season with Winnipeg, he actually put up that exact goals against average of 2.86. So, there's similar numbers here between goalies and back-to-back years. I know it's a smaller sample size for Dawes, but it is a number. Daz is 25 with a $1.1 million cap hit through 27-28, and Bukestad is 34 and out 4-6 months after surgery. So this isn't a team finally waiting around for him. Tuesday night, the building gets to tell them what they really think. Brady Kachuk went back to Ottawa this season, and he heard chants of "you eat crayons" as he played. Ottawa's coach Travis Green said the night felt as close to a playoff game as you're going to get. Quinn Hughes was booed in warmups during the game, then a big part of the building cheered to his tribute video. And the part that bugs me is that he was the centerpiece of this team. We built this team around him, Connor, and Scheifele, and he just walked out the door. Matthew Tkachuk was booed on every touch in Calgary in 2022, got a standing ovation for his tribute video, and the Flames won 6-2. Matthew Tkachuk had no points that night in Calgary, and nobody called the boos a reason to sit him. A bad night in front of an angry and booing crowd is part of what you paid for when you signed an $8.5 million extension here and asked out. Every one of those previous guys walked out the tunnel, got on the ice, and got what they deserved. A booing crowd that felt disrespected and betrayed by their star player. We're not going to get a chance to do that on Tuesday. Not everyone buys the ducking idea. Quote, I don't believe for a second that he doesn't want to play in return to Winnipeg, says The Athletic's Josh Yeo. Even in New Jersey, the optics are bad, and The Devils beat writer Nichols adds that, quote, this was a Sonny meta decision full stop. If he plays and he hears boos, that's a story for one night. When he doesn't play, that's a story for the whole season. Hughes got booed and still showed up. Showing up is how you earn the cheers back, and sitting says the opposite. If he wants to be respected for everything he's done in Winnipeg, he needed to show up in this game. The best argument against my take is that the Devils made the call and his hands are tied. But I don't think that's the real answer. Quote, they planned this out purposely, they were going to avoid this every time. That was NHL Muse posted that, and that is one opinion as well. But he's the one who forced this trade. He doesn't get to call anything out of his hands. So a 5-0 goalie, yeah, sure, the workload argument is there. But sitting him that's going to decrease your win probability is absolutely insane. And I hate that argument, for sure. The Devils own statement in the win probability reads like a cover for him, like he went to Meta and said, hey, I don't want to play this game, I don't want to face the music, and they just came up with the craziest excuse they could find in the back. It's his fourth start in eight days, but we see goaltenders do this all the time. And he's two days removed from a shutout. You can't say that his win probability is down after posting a shutout. Like, come on. Yeah, sure, the Devils may have made this call themselves. And Tuesday morning, he can prove it when he faces the media. So what to watch going into media availability Tuesday we're going to keep you updated on everything that happens here on the channel so subscribe but we're gonna have to hear why he left Winnipeg why he's not playing in the game that night and either way if they they need to draft him as a backup in this they have to and if you want stories like this every day go down hit that subscribe button it's completely free to do so Now let's talk about the other half of the trade because Winnipeg didn't give Hellebuck up for nothing. The Devils took Command 12th in June and traded him on October 23rd, about four months later. That tells you what Connor Hellebuck cost. A 12th pick went out the door with him. Alexander Command was taken 12th overall in the 2026 NHL Draft by the Devils last June. He is a 6'1 center from Sweden and he's 18 years old. Last season at 17, he had 17 goals and 44 points in 30 games for for Örebro's under-20 team, ninth in the league in scoring. In the under-20 playoffs, he added 13 points in 14 games. This season, he has seven goals in seven games in the U-20 and zero points in seven games in the Swedish men's league. NHL Central Scouting had him as the 11th-ranked European skater, and he went 12th in the draft. That split is the whole scouting report. He dominates people his age, but he's still learning the game this year at the men's side. He strips pucks in transitions, battles in front of the net, and wins 61% of his faceoffs per daily faceoff. The weak spots, no explosive acceleration, and not much one-on-one skill. He has 1.39 hits a game, and his ice time in Swedish men's league has been falling. His, quote, special motor makes him a potential NHL play driver, Elite Prospect says. In his own words, quote, it's either 110% or nothing. I'd rather give 110% every time. One scout says he plays every shift like his career depends on winning the battle. Their projection is a high floor second or third line center, 45 to 50 points. Not a 90 point driver, and he's going to be NHL ready around age 21, which is about three years from now. Before the trade, Daily Faceoff's top 10 for the Jets had 2026 pick Viggo Björk first and Elias Sæthermoen second, so Command arrives behind them. The Daily Faceoff says there's no reason to rush him to Winnipeg. At 18, Command is the youngest piece Winnipeg got back, with Mercer 24, Dawes 25, and Bukestad 34. Mercer is the piece that can help this year, and Command is the piece that can help three years from now. That's why Winnipeg can wait on him. So what kind of prospect he is is a safe, hard-working second-line center. He might not be a star in this league, but he's definitely going to help us when he comes over in three years' time. This is a good return for a goalie who wanted out. One thing to watch this year is to see what he ends up with in the Swedish men's league. We'll keep you up to date on everything around that.