Hellebuyck is an outstanding goalie and I would love to have him on the team but the whole situation reaks of a mistake.
1. Hellebuyck will be 30 by the time he signs his new contract. Seeing how the reports are stating he wants a max term contract, that will take him to 38/39. I do not want to have that contract weighing us down for the foreseeable future. Goalies can quickly change in form and considering his price tag, which is point #2 this can quickly become a serious anchor for the team.
2. Helle wants Vasy money. While he has been a top 5 goalie for the past couple seasons, like Vasy, their contract situations are far from similar. Vasy was 25 when his contract was signed and he will be 33 when it ends. This is far, far more palatable than giving the bag to Hellebuyck and hoping he doesn’t drop off until the end of his contract. Goalies are voodoo and can vary season by season, way to risky which leads me to point #3
3. The Devils should learn from the past. Bobrovsky is a perfect example of why trading for and extending Helle is a bad idea. Florida signed Bob to a 10mil by 7 year deal in the summer of 2019 and 4 years since the trade Bob has yet to play up to that contract. At 34 years of age Florida still has 3 more years of him on the roster which has forced them to cut corners in other areas. Sure, they made the finals this year on a fluky run but let’s not forget they just squeaked in to begin with. Had Pitt beat Chicago like they were supposed to this argument doesn’t even exist.
4. Recent cup winners have been proving you don’t need a top 5 super elite goaltender to win the cup. Vegas with Hill, Blues with Binnington, Colorado with Kuemper. It’s more about a goalie getting hot at the best possible time than needing a workhorse to play 65-70 games a season plus the entire playoffs
5. Much like the NFL with RBs, the league is realizing that tandem goaltending is the future. Aside from those true workhorse starters, most teams understand that a 1A, 1B tandem can produce just as effectively as having a workhorse starter.
6. Additionally, given how much Winnipeg has relied on Hellebyuck over the years, I’m not so sure his body can handle the workload required to play into his late 30s.
7. The Devils have had little to no success in recent years when signing 30+ year old goalies. (Schneider, Crawford, Bernier) again the risk of paying Hellebuyck big well into his 30s is way to risky for a very young team with an extremely bright present and future.
8. Lastly, the Devils have Schmid who looked extremely well against a very good NYR team and managed to shut them out in 2 separate games. He’s only 22. He has loads of potential to be a legit starter or at least a 1A in this league. There’s no reason to block his path for 9 years of an aging Hellebuyck.
I like Hellebuyck, I’m sure he’d look great in red but I have 0 interest in making him the highest paid player on the team when we have young players we still need to worry about extending in the near future like Mercer, Luke and Nemec and Hischiers eventual extension.. The organization has done extremely well to build this core from the ground up and avoided cutting corners. This is not the time to start. What I would sign Helle for: 6x6.5. I would not go higher on term or aav which to me takes Hellebuyck to NJ not happen.
McDavid, Connor
$250,000)
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