The New Jersey Devils made the big move on Friday. They acquired Connor Hellebuyck from the Winnipeg Jets right before they were required to start paying the man. He was suspended for missing the preseason and training camp. And now, he’s jumping into a situation where he’s expected to be something for a contender.
Still, the Devils have been held back by bad goaltending, and the Metropolitan Division has been more than happy to laugh at their situation. Honestly, the Devils were considered on the fringes of playoff contention coming into the season, and the goaltending situation was the main reason why. The Devils could not be expected to dominate the league with league-average goaltending in the best-case scenario.
The Metropolitan Division is in an interesting place. At the time of this writing, the three teams at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings are the Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Philadelphia Flyers. Then, there’s the fight for the playoff spots between the Devils, Carolina Hurricanes, New York Rangers, Washington Capitals, and New York Islanders.
Thanks to the Devils' current three-game winning streak, they are solidly in third place in the Metro. The two teams ahead of them, the Rangers and Hurricanes, were deeply impacted by the Devils getting Hellebuyck. They also happen to be the Devils’ two biggest rivals.
The Connor Hellebuyck trade impacts the Rangers and Hurricanes in very different ways
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported on Saturday that the Canes were pushing hard for Hellebuyck, but they didn’t have the right centerpiece to make the deal work. To match Dawson Mercer, the Canes would have to give up Logan Stankoven or Seth Jarvis (who are admittedly both better assets, but going down a notch puts the pieces below Mercer).
The Devils getting this piece puts the defending Stanley Cup champions in a weirder bind. Not only are they stuck with lesser goaltending, but that goaltending understands that their GM tried to replace them. Brandon Bussi just won Carolina a championship, and now he’s getting replaced. It can’t be a good feeling.
Then there’s the Rangers’ aspect. The Rangers lost Igor Shesterkin for the season a few weeks ago. Despite this, they’ve been surviving with Dylan Garand, and Jonas Korpisalo is on his way after suffering an injury.
They were tied to the Hellebuyck story in a different way. While most weren’t expecting the Rangers to target Hellebuyck himself, they were expected to help facilitate a trade. The Rangers would be getting either Karel Vejmelka or Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen when Hellebuyck went to Utah or Buffalo.
Of course, those trades did not come to fruition. And there really isn’t a fallback plan for Hellebuyck. There are no other great goalies who are available.
The Devils made the Hellebuyck move to salvage their contention, but they also hurt the contention of the only Metropolitan teams ahead of him.
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