Last Minute News, Rumors, Reports Ahead of Jets vs Devils

The goalie who forced his way out of Winnipeg is back tonight and is not playing. Connor Hellebuyck shut out Toronto 4-0 on Sunday with 23 saves. He won his first five games as a Devil, a first for any goalie in their franchise's history. The Devils come back to town tonight and today they have a familiar face on the other side in Connor Hellebuyck, but unfortunately, the organization told the Jets he will not play tonight. Jets coach Scott Arniel passed along the Devils' reason, and the reason was win probability. Arniel also said he has plenty to say about the decision, so expect the Winnipeg bench to hear about it. New Jersey is 13-5-0 and second in the Metropolitan Division. Winnipeg is 7-8-3. So does that call from the Devils mean that they respect Winnipeg or they don't? He asked for a trade in August, skipped training camp, and was suspended. On October 23rd, the Jets sent him to New Jersey for Dawson Mercer, Nico Dawes, Alexander Kamen, Nick Bjugstad, a 2029 2nd, and a 2027 7th. Bjugstad is out long-term after pectoral surgery, so what Winnipeg really got is Mercer, Dawes, Kamen, and the picks. Mercer scored his first goal as a Jet on November 5th in a 6-2 win over Vancouver. Tonight is the first time he will get to face his former club in the New Jersey Devils. In goal, the Jets handed the job to Stuart Skinner, who has stopped 303 of 343 shots in 13 games, an 8-8-3 save percentage. Skinner has no shutouts in those 13 games, and Hellebuyck already has one in five. Hellebuyck is at .913 on 115 shots in five games as a Devil. Winnipeg's other two goalies are not better this season. Nico Dawes is at an .886 and Clay Stevenson is at an .870. Not one of the goalies that the Jets have are over an .886 at this point in the season, but the one they traded away is at .913 on the other end. That is the cost of the trade and is the part of the trade that they need to answer with their scoring. And unfortunately, they won't be able to put any pucks past their former teammate, Connor Hellebuyck, tonight. That is the real gap. And the Devils sitting him tonight, sitting Hellebuyck tonight, just shows you how much they trust everyone else in the room and how much they trust Jake Allen to get the win tonight in Winnipeg. Winnipeg lost seven in a row from October 20th to November 1st, and the last two were a 5-2 loss at Florida and a 7-0 loss at Carolina. The Jets came home from that and beat Vancouver 6-2 on November 5th. Mark Scheifele had a goal and an assist in that one. Before that, they won 5-4 in overtime at Montreal on November 3rd and four goals in the third period. Then came Sunday when Tampa Bay was tied 3-3 and Scheifele scored the winner with just over one second left in regulation. And Brayden Yager scored his first NHL goal in that one too, which was fun. Across those three wins, the Jets scored 15 goals and allowed nine. The Jets come in tonight on a three-game winning streak, and they're going to look to beat up on the Devils tonight. Winnipeg is 7-8-3 with 17 points in 18 games, six in the Central. And the Western Conference wildcard line is fifth place at 17 points. That is a team that has found their legs, not a team that's arrived. Here is the number that makes the Devils' decision make sense. The goalie the Devils would use instead, Jake Allen. He is 6-3 with an .881 save percentage, 215 saves on 244 shots in nine starts this season. Skinner is at an 8-8-3 for Winnipeg, so the two goalies who might face each other tonight are within two points of save percentage of each other. Hellebuck, on the other hand, is 5-0 with 1.96 goals against average and a 9-13 save percentage, and that is why this feels like a statement. But the Devils won six of Allen's nine starts anyway, because the team up in front of him gives up 24.8 shots a game, which is really low. That is the answer to every Devils goalie question, is take the pressure off of them, and their forwards and defense have been doing a great job of that. So when the Devils sit a goalie who is 5-0 on the season, the signal might not be disrespect for Winnipeg. It could be that Allen's numbers are deflated and look worse than what they seem to be, and the Devils still have a better team in front of them. New Jersey is 13-5-0 with 26 points in 18 games, behind only Carolina in the Metro. They have won four straight, and two most recent road wins were a 5-4 overtime at the Islanders on November 7th, and the 4-0 win over Toronto the next day. And if you're enjoying these game previews, go down below and hit that like button. Jack Hughes leads the Devils with 25 points in 18 games and 9 goals. Hughes has two assists and a 4-0 win at Toronto, so he drives New Jersey even when he does not score. Arseni Gritsyuk has 8 goals and 13 points, so the scoring does not stop with Hughes and Heiskanen. Nico Heiskanen has 8 goals, 5 on the power play, and he reached 500 career points on Sunday. Timo Meier has 70 shots on goal, so the Devils will shoot from everywhere. Anthony Mantha, who had 2 goals and an assist against St. Louis on November 5th, is out with a neck injury. The Jets answer with Kyle Connor, who leads them with 13 goals and 19 points. Scheifele has 18 points, Perfetti has 14, with 7 goals. Connor has scored 13 goals on 74 shots at 17.6% shooting percentage, and Hughes has 9 on 73, a 12.3% shooting percentage. Perfetti had a goal and assist on Sunday and has 7 goals on 57 shots, 12.3%. The Devils may have a deeper top six, but we have the home ice advantage and a win streak with a lot of momentum. Strip away the story, and the teams are very different. New Jersey scores 3.61 goals a game and allows 2.83 goals a game. Winnipeg scores 2.72 goals a game and allows 3.5, so the Devils are plus .78 a night and the Jets are minus .78. The Devils also take 33.7 shots a game and allow 24.8, so they outshoot teams by nine every night. Winnipeg takes 27.6 shots a game and allows 28.6, so the Jets are outshot by one every game. The shot gap is the real answer to the question that started this video. A team that allows 24.8 shots a game can almost start anyone in goal, and it's how the Devils consider goalie who just posted a shutout. Winnipeg's goalie Skinner sees 28.6 shots a game and the Devils average 33.7, so we should expect about five more than a normal night. Special teams are the other half of it. Winnipeg's power play is at 21.8%, 12 goals on 55 chances. New Jersey's is at 19.3%, 11 on 57 chances. Neither penalty kill is good. Winnipeg's is at a 71.7% and New Jersey is at 67.6%. Winnipeg power play against New Jersey's skill scores about 1-3, and that makes every penalty tonight a real swing. Even the faceoff dot leans Devils, they win 49.7%, and Winnipeg wins 46.6%. None of it says Winnipeg cannot win tonight, it says Winnipeg is going to need a big night to go out and beat the Devils. The standings matter more than the storyline for both teams. A Winnipeg win makes it 19 points, which will catch Seattle at 19 and pass Calgary at 17 in the Western Conference wildcard race. Nashville and Utah are at 21, and Minnesota leads the Central with 28-19 games. That puts Winnipeg 4 points behind Nashville and Utah and 11 behind Minnesota, with St. Louis at 16 and Chicago at 9 below them. A New Jersey win makes it 28 points in 19 games, two behind Carolina's 30 in 19. Winnipeg is 4-4-1 at home, and New Jersey is 5-3-0 on the road. That means the home ice advantage by the stats isn't that big for the Jets, and the Devils have been doing good on the road. After tonight, Winnipeg plays at Dallas on November 12th and Chicago on November 14th. New Jersey's next game after Winnipeg is at home against Washington, November 12th. The Jets then visit New Jersey on November 28th, and Hellebuck gets a second chance to play the team in that rematch. First, the power play. Kyle Conner has six power play goals for Winnipeg, and he sure has five for New Jersey. Whoever draws more penalties tonight wins that part of the game. Second, Winnipeg's defense. Josh Morrissey is still on injured reserve with a wrist injury, and the line tool still lists him in the top pair. So Winnipeg's defense again is going to be tested without Morrissey tonight, and they have a forward on the other side of New Jersey who has 70 shots this year. And the fourth thing is how close these games get. The Devils' four-game winning streak started with a 4-3 shootout win over Edmonton on November 3rd, then a 4-5-4 overtime win over St. Louis on November 5th. Add the 5-4 overtime win at the Islanders on November 7th, and three of New Jersey's last four wins needed extra time. Winnipeg's three straight wins were 5-4 in overtime, 6-2, and 4-3, so the Jets have won two of them by one goal. Both teams have been living in close games, so one bounce, one penalty kill gone wrong, and that's going to be the game tonight. Skinner has started 13 of Winnipeg's 18 games, so the Jets have leaned on him most nights. Third, the net, the reason we are here. Daily Faceoff lists Jake Allen and Hellberg from New Jersey with no starter named, and Allen has six wins this season. Hellberg will speak to the media after the Devils skate and the Athletic called the Devils statement after Sunday. Shut out. Weird. I think there's no way that the Winnipeg Jets lose this game tonight against the Devils. Even when Hellberg is not in the net, they're going to want to beat this guy's team. And I expect it's going to be a big win. I'm going to say 5-1 for the Jets tonight. The Jets have won three straight and they've been on a roll. And I really do think that there's nothing stopping this team right now. Even though Hellberg is not going to be in net, this team is still going to want to win against this guy. So Hellebuck will be the backup goaltender tonight for New Jersey in Winnipeg, but there has been some rumors swirling around here that Hellebuck does not like to sit on the bench when he is the backup goaltender, and he might just hang out in the film room tonight, which would make this saga even more interesting. And one thing to watch is the power play. If the power play can start converting in this game, if they get some opportunities, that is the way to win this game for sure. The pick in one line, lucky numbers, 8-8-3, 6-25, and 13-5-0. So go down below in the comments, let me know who you think's winning tonight. Is it the Jets? Is it the Devils? Let me know in the comments.