Connor Hellebuyck Trade: He Won't Report, and the Sabres Are Still In

The Connor Hellebuyck trade standoff reaches the regular season

The Connor Hellebuyck trade saga is about to start costing him real money. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on Monday that Hellebuyck is not expected to report to the Winnipeg Jets for the start of the regular season and is prepared to miss his first paycheque. The Jets open on Oct. 2 at home against the Boston Bruins with Stuart Skinner in goal. Winnipeg is still working to find a trade, and the Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes and Utah Mammoth remain the clubs most often linked.

That list matters in Toronto for one reason. One of those teams plays the Maple Leafs four times this season.

How we got here

Hellebuyck went public with his trade request on Aug. 27 and did not report to training camp. Winnipeg suspended him on Sept. 17. At the time the suspension was mostly symbolic, because NHL players are not paid during camp and the pre-season. That changes now. A suspended player forfeits his salary for each day of the regular season he stays away, and the season started Tuesday.

Friedman's report is a shift in tone. Days ago there was still some hope in Winnipeg that Hellebuyck would reconsider and play out the year. Being willing to give up regular-season pay is about the clearest signal a player can send that he is not coming back.

Hellebuyck has five years left on his contract at an $8.5-million cap hit, and a no-movement clause. As we covered last week, he has ruled out all six other Canadian teams, which took Toronto off the board. He controls the destination, and Winnipeg controls the price. Neither side has blinked.

Who is still in the Connor Hellebuyck trade market

Carolina Hurricanes. The defending Stanley Cup champions remain very interested, per Friedman. The complication is roster math: Carolina has restricted free agent defenceman Alexander Nikishin still unsigned, and any construction that sends significant salary to Winnipeg runs into that. Friedman has floated a third team as the simplest path, with Carolina acquiring assets from another club and flipping them to Winnipeg.

Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo has been linked since the request went public and remains in the mix. The Sabres have the clearest need for a true No. 1 of any Atlantic team and the most to gain in the standings from getting one. We laid out how a three-team structure involving Buffalo could work earlier this month.

Utah Mammoth. Utah is a young team trying to take the next step, and a proven starter is the most direct way to do it. The question is whether Hellebuyck is willing to approve it.

The San Jose Sharks have also been mentioned in reporting, though they are the least likely of the group to match what Winnipeg wants for a player in his prime.

What Winnipeg wants

The benchmark is still the offer the Jets turned down from Florida: two roster players and two first-round picks, including a top-10 selection in the 2026 draft. Kevin Cheveldayoff did not take it. That tells you Winnipeg is not looking for a salary dump or a futures package; it wants a return that keeps the Jets competitive now.

Reporting has also indicated that some goaltenders have declined to be included in Hellebuyck packages, which narrows what the Jets can take back to replace him. It is part of why the saga has dragged. Winnipeg needs a goalie back or a clear plan to find one, and Skinner, thrust into the starting role by the request, is carrying the load with Domenic DiVincentiis as his backup.

Cheveldayoff's leverage has not changed. Hellebuyck is under contract for five more years and the Jets can wait. What has changed is the cost of waiting for both sides. Every regular-season game Hellebuyck misses costs him pay and costs Winnipeg points.

Why the Maple Leafs should care about Buffalo

Toronto cannot get Hellebuyck. That is settled. But the Leafs play 28 divisional games under the new 84-game schedule — every Atlantic rival four times, two home and two away. A three-time Vezina winner and former Hart Trophy winner landing in Buffalo would change four of those games directly and the entire race for the Atlantic's final playoff spots indirectly.

Buffalo's problem for most of the past decade has been goaltending. A Sabres team with Hellebuyck behind it becomes a genuine threat to finish ahead of Toronto, especially given how thin the Leafs' own crease looks. Toronto is starting the season with Sergei Bobrovsky at 38 and Anthony Stolarz, and just added the injured Elvis Merzlikins in the Kirill Marchenko trade. Public models already had the Leafs' goaltending near the bottom of the league.

Carolina and Utah landing him would be a smaller problem. The Hurricanes are in the Metropolitan Division and would be a Final-level obstacle rather than a divisional one. Utah is in the West.

There is also a less direct effect. Boston opens its season in Winnipeg on Oct. 2 against a Jets team without its star. Every Atlantic team that draws Winnipeg while Hellebuyck sits out gets an easier two points than it would have a year ago.

What a Hellebuyck trade would cost the buyer

Whoever lands him is taking on a long commitment. Five years at $8.5 million is a significant share of any cap, even with the ceiling at $104 million this season and $113.5 million next. The contract also carries the no-movement protection, which means the acquiring team is committing to him as its starter well into his late 30s with very little flexibility to reverse course.

That is part of why the market is small. Teams with an established starter do not need him. Teams without one often do not have the combination of cap space and roster players Winnipeg is demanding. Carolina has the ambition and the need to repeat, but also the Nikishin question. Buffalo has the need, and has been searching for a franchise goaltender for years. Utah has the flexibility. Each is missing one piece of the puzzle.

The acquiring team also inherits a player who has now forced his way out of a market by refusing to report. That does not diminish his on-ice value, which is still among the highest at his position, but it is the kind of context that makes some front offices hesitate before committing five years.

What happens if nobody moves

The longer this runs, the stranger it gets. Hellebuyck forfeits salary daily. The Jets play Skinner and hope the market improves. Contending teams' needs change with every injury, which is the one thing that could suddenly push a club to meet Winnipeg's price. A starting goalie going down in October on a team with Cup ambitions is how stalemates like this usually end.

There is also the scenario where Hellebuyck reconsiders, reports and plays. Friedman's reporting makes that look unlikely in the short term. It does not rule it out by the trade deadline.

What's next

Watch Carolina's handling of Nikishin, because a signed Nikishin makes a three-team deal much simpler. Watch Buffalo's first two weeks, because a bad start in net could push Buffalo's front office to pay Winnipeg's price. And watch Winnipeg's standing: if the Jets stumble without Hellebuyck, Cheveldayoff's patience becomes more expensive.

For Toronto, the Connor Hellebuyck trade is a spectator sport — but it is one with a direct line to the Atlantic standings. The best outcome for the Leafs is simple: he goes west or to the Metropolitan, not to Buffalo.