It’s not easy being Connor Hellebuyck this week. It wasn’t bad last week. This seems to alternate week to week. The inconsistency of a young team and it’s young goalie starting to take a toll. Days after he shut out the Calgary Flames and claiming confidence, he gets shelled in back to back games against the Montreal Candadiens & bottom feeders the Arizona Coyotes.

With all the noise from the media, with all the highs and lows about Connor Hellebuyck’s record so far this season, our Spinorama writers took some time to look into how well our new to the NHL goalie has been doing. We decided that to keep things in perspective we would look at other top goalies in the NHL and how their careers started. I promise no mention of the Jets defensive game wows or firing of any of their coaches…

In Connor Hellebuyck’s first full seasons, his record so far is as follows:

2015-2017 (2 yrs): 29 Wins, 24 Losses, 2 OT, 5 Shutouts for a 912 Save%

Keep in mind prior to the last 2 games when he was pulled after 13 shots letting in 6 goals, he had a 915 Save%, the reason I mention this is we are judging him at most likely the low point of this season)

Here are some top net minders in the NHL that we looked at the beginning of their careers followed by the years, wins, losses, OT Losses, Shutouts and Save%:
Sergei Bobrovsky

2010-2012 (2 yrs): 42 Wins, 23 Losses, 10 OT, 0 Shutouts for 909 Save%

Devan Dubnyk

2009-2012 (3 yrs): 36 Wins, 43 Losses, 13 OT, 4 Shutouts for 910 Save%

Carey Price

2007-2008 (2 yrs): 47 Wins, 28 Losses, 13 OT, 4 Shutouts for 911 Save%

Frederik Anderson

2013-2015 (2 yrs): 55 Wins, 17 Losses, 5 OT, 3 Shutouts for 917 Save%

Corey Crawford

2010-2012 (2 yrs): 63 Wins, 35 Losses, 13 OT, 4 Shutouts for 910 Save%
With the exception of Frederik Anderson, Connor Hellebuyck is on pace to better Sergei Bobrovsky, Devan Dubnyk, Carey Price and Corey Crawford at the beginning of their careers. Also important to note with the exception of Dubnyk, the win loss records of their teams were much better than the current Winnipeg Jets so we can assume their teams in front of them were better or more experienced.

I’m not saying by any means that Connor Hellebuyck is better than any of the above goalies but maybe in this high intensity market of Winnipeg (not really), the only thing I’m really saying is, it’s not easy being Connor Hellebuyck…

written by Frank Zappia