Legit starters can be elite until 35+. Helle is totally elite and isn’t going to start declining anytime soon. Great deal for both player and team.

As a Sabres fan, I can attest to Craig Anderson a 40 year old goalie still being productive but we also weren’t paying 8.5M either. Worth it right now but wonder how this will age, hopefully well.

What an awful deal.

Connor Hellebucyk is arguably the most overrated goalie in this league. I’d say he is worth 6 million right now.

But he is making way more than that until he is 38.

Chevaldayoff should be long gone.

Well that will put the trade rumors to rest. For the near term, it's a great signing, but making $8.5M until age 38 could get iffy towards the end if he declines.

I think we can chalk up all that talk of $9-9.5mil to Helle's agent doing his job properly lol.

I think Brossoit this year is going to be picking up somewhere around 30 games. I juts hope we can either re-sign him or find a diamond in the backup carousel for the next few years until Milic or DiVincentiis are ready. I hope that at least one of those guys pans out around 2026-27 because they're currently two of the most promising goalie prospect Winnipeg has had since Hutchinson, Comrie, and (of course) Hellebuyck.

As a Devils fan I was holding out hope but as the summer wore on it became pretty clear that a big trade wasn’t gonna happen. Great day for the Jets.

Thats a fine contract for Hellebuyck I guess.

This seems to be another case of a team signing a star player near the end of his prime to a long-term contract, knowing that it’s probably going to turn bad toward the latter half, but willing to take that risk to keep the AAV down in the short term. Is that a good strategy? Time will tell. So far I don’t think he’s showing any signs of declining, but neither was Blake Wheeler when they extended him to age 38, and they ended up buying him out. Maybe they’re ok with that. Finding a proven elite goalie isn't easy, and even picking one up from another team often doesn't work out, so I can’t blame them for wanting to keep the one they have.

This likely won't age well. He's already 30 and while there are goalies that can play into their late 30s, there are more goalies that get niggling injuries that hurt their game tremendously.

W for the W

I guess an $8.5 million AAV can make even Winnipeg desirable.

Let's see if they win anything.

Great deal, and if Winnipeg wants to trade him in a few years, I think this will be the contract that a lot of teams will try to buy in if they need a goalie. Winnipeg will get a great return for this contract

I understand your glee. But don't you think the only reason, Hellebuyck signed is guaranteed money, but also knowing no team would have offered more? Especially for Helly, I wonder if he is going to happy being a Jet for nine more years.