GM speaks out on goaltending situation...

Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Sheveldayoff speaks out about the goaltending situation from everything from Hellebuck ranging to Clay Stevenson. We're going to break down everything Kevin Sheveldayoff had to say about the goaltending heading into their opening night matchup. We're also going to talk about the lines we could see for tonight as well so you guys aren't going to want to miss this episode of Winnipeg Jets Digest. Before we dive into everything here, I just want to say around the road, for 2,000 subscribers you're on the channel before the season starts so if you're new here, you want to stay up to date on the latest news around the Winnipeg Jets, we're your home for it here on YouTube. So go down below, hit that subscribe button, it's completely free to do so but yes, again we're back talking about the goaltending situation as it seems like all offseason, that's all we've been talking about but Kevin Sheveldayoff did have an interview on TSN where he talked about everything from Hellebuck, Distort Skinner, to also the new addition in Clay Stevenson so let's dive into it all. First, let's kick it off with Hellebuck and we'll get to the later stuff just after this comment so let's just see what he had to say about the recent updates on this Conor Hellebuck situation. This is what he had to say. He said, what it will ultimately be, that will be a decision that will be made when something presents itself so it kind of seems to me that what Kevin Sheveldayoff is kind of thinking at this moment in time is that, you know, he's not concerned about trading Conor Hellebuck, he's just waiting for the right deal to come across the table here and I think that's the perfect way to be for Kevin Sheveldayoff because he doesn't need to sell Conor Hellebuck for less than what he thinks he's worth, I mean he could and they could go into a season with a new player or whatever it may be that could really help them for the now but in the meantime, you know, he can just let Hellebuck sit and just hope that he changes his mind and comes back to play for this team this season and I really do think that's what we're seeing from Kevin Sheveldayoff here is that, you know, he's going to say, okay, let's let him sit here on suspension for a little bit and him not getting a paycheck and let's see if he wants to come back to work and I think that's where we're at right now and I think it's the perfect spot to be at right now because you don't want to have to give up Hellebuck for, you know, what you don't want, I mean this player is handcuffing you by requesting a trade out of the organization, yes, could it have been dealt with earlier this offseason? 100% and he could have been dealt way earlier this offseason and we could have got a great return for that, no doubt about it but Sheveldayoff didn't like any of the returns that he was getting, didn't end up making this trade and here we are going into opening night with Connor Hellebuck sitting at home watching it on the couch, not getting paid so it will be interesting to see how this goes on over the next little while if we see him maybe creep his way back into the organization, try to get a start or maybe he will just sit at home waiting for a trade to happen but like I said, as we get into the season, as we, you know, injuries do happen across the NHL which is very unfortunate and maybe, you know, a team could be out, could be out without their goaltender and could really need a move to make a change at that position, Connor Hellebuck's available to make that happen and Kevin Sheveldayoff is, you know, not going to take a deal he don't want and I respect that for him to be honest with you because I think a lot of GMs by now would have already got rid of him and may have taken him at a loss but, you know, Sheveldayoff believes in what his value is and I got to give him huge props for that to be honest with you because it takes a lot to go out and do that and I do respect that but let's get into some more comments that he had to say about this upcoming season which I thought was interesting as well, this is what he had to say here, I'll bring it up a little bit bigger for you guys, he said one thing that hasn't changed is for us to be successful, we're going to have to play a certain way, you can talk about individuals, you can talk about different things like that but the collective team game that Winnipeg Jets have to play has to be our identity and that's one of taking care of our, on our end and letting the rest take care of itself so basically saying, yeah, we're going out, we're trying to compete, we're going to try to win, you know, get back into the playoffs and just try to win the Stanley Cup this year, he thinks that we still have the roster there to do it, I do think with some great additions that we're going to talk about in just a little bit that we can get back there 100%, I definitely think we can get back to a playoff position this season, we have the offense to make them work, obviously we got Connor and Shively, hopefully a big season out of Vigo, Bjork, we got a lot of guys here that are looking to prove it this season and go out and put some points up on the board and when you have a team like that who's just hungry to get back into the playoffs after having a season they didn't want last year, I think it's going to be a great sign of things to come for the Winnipeg Jets, even from Kevin Shively coming out and saying these things, just saying, yeah, we got to play our identity, you can talk about this person or that person but the team is going to go out and play together every night and I think that's a great thing to hear coming out of your GM, that's what he's trying to instill in this roster and I think that's what the players are fired up about going into this season, it's just to get back out there and just get back to the playoffs because you know guys like Shively, who's been here his whole career, wants to bring a cup to Winnipeg and the guys are going to be fired up to try to make that happen this season for sure but this is also what Sheveldave had to say about the whole net mining situation to get back on that note, this is what he had to say about Skinner and Stevenson, he said, it was nervousness a couple days ago there, not knowing if we'd get Klay, so certainly excited that the waiver claim was successful there, again I think Stu is someone that we talked about before and there's been a level of I guess interest and excitement on both sides, both on the sides of Wade Flaherty, who kind of runs the goaltending department for us and the desire to want to work with Stu, so that's great, obviously hearing the goaltending coach come out and hearing that he wants to work with Stu and kind of get him back in the form we've already seen it in this preseason, he looked tremendous and now going into tonight where I believe he will be getting the start going into tonight's game, hopefully Stu can come out and have a big start for us tonight, have a good game, have an above 900% game, I would love to see that from Stu, maybe a two goals against as well, I would love to see him come out and just have a very very dominant start, seems like he's worked on a lot this offseason, it looks like he's been a lot better of a goaltender and it's good to hear Shovel D.I. say yeah, we were nervous of it, going into the season we didn't really know what the goaltending was going to be, but we got Clay and we're happy that we got him and we're excited that we got him and now the nervousness has subsided because you have a great backup in Clay Stevenson who has played some great hockey over the last year and I think this is great to hear surrounding the Winnipeg Jets that a lot of people were worried about the goaltending situation with Hellebuck and all that, but they're not worried anymore, they got two great goaltenders here in Stu and Stevenson and they're going to go to work this year and it all starts tonight with Stuart Skinner hopefully starting in the crease for this team tonight and talking about tonight we have some new faces in the lineup heading into tonight's game, this is from Mike McIntyre, a great follow on X, he said this is the opening night roster has 10 different faces, Larry wasn't there last season because he was hurt, same with Perfetti, then we have Bjork and Rosen making their first opening night starts which is great to hear, we got Sandberg who was hurt as well last year, Mario Ferraro, Bauer, St. Ivany, all new faces starting tonight, we have Skinner and Stevenson who both weren't here last season either, Sammison would be the 11th new face if he was healthy but that's a lot of change in one year, a lot of turnover and it's going to be great to see the Winnipeg Jets new faces out there on the ice in tonight's regular season, some of them getting their first looks as a Winnipeg Jets in a regular season game which is going to be fun to see, Bjork is going to be a fun one to watch, there's no doubt about it, and just looking at the lineup heading into tonight's game, it's going to be similar to what we've been talking about here, we got Conor, Shively, Perfetti up on that top line, we know what they can bring to the table, hopefully we can see a couple goals out of Conor tonight, Rosen and Bjork and Valerdi, I love this line, I really think we're going to see a great connection from Bjork and Valerdi, I do just want to be wary to not be too critical on Bjork in his first game, he's trying to still get adjusted and I really do think he will adjust quickly, but if he doesn't have the best game tonight, just take it easy on him because it is his first game here at the pro level, but Bjork is not human and maybe he will have a monster game tonight, we see Barron with Lowry and Lambert on his third line, then we have a veteran fourth line, a Nemestikov, Niederreiter and Aifalo on the defense, we have Morrissey and Demillo, Samberg and Pionk, both pairings we've seen a lot of last year, both pairings I really like personally, then we have Ferraro with Bauer here on this third pairing, we did kind of, we thought like earlier in this off season that we would see St. Iveny maybe get the start tonight, but it looks like Bauer could be in the lineup, it will be interesting to see which one of those guys do start tonight for the Winnipeg Jets, but yeah, it's fun, it's gonna be a good night, hopefully we can come out with a win against the Boston Bruins here tonight and start the season off on a good note, it's great to hear that the nervousness has gone about the goaltending situation from Kevin Sheveldayoff and some great news coming out on the front of Hellebuck and just saying hey, you know, I'm gonna wait to see what happens, let me know what you guys think, do you agree with Sheveldayoff's approach here to just kind of waiting for a trade to happen, let me know in the comment section, let me know what your dream player getting back for Hellebuck is as well down in the comments while you're down there, leave a like, subscribe to the channel as always, I've been your host KC, keep sticking on the ice.