WINNIPEG - Connor Hellebuyck can check off another important item from his to-do list.
The Winnipeg Jets netminder captured his first Vezina Trophy on Monday, winning the honour for the NHL's top goalie over Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins.
The award was voted on by 30 of the 31 NHL general managers and Hellebuyck accumulated 19 first-place votes, nine second-place votes and one third-place vote for a total of 123 points, which was 24 more than Rask (10-15-4).
Hellebuyck was presented the award by Edmonton Oilers great Grant Fuhr, a Hockey Hall of Famer who won the Vezina Trophy in 1988.
“It’s very rewarding. Almost a little bit of a sigh of relief because I was so close last time,” Hellebucyk said during a zoom call with reporters. “I wanted it so badly. This year was such a mental grind, but also so fun. I would have liked for the playoffs to go a little better, but when I’m looking back on this year, I’m going to say that we did some great things.”
Hellebuyck first made a public declaration about his intention to be the best goalie in the NHL back in 2017 during a scrum that raised more than a few eyebrows.
To provide some context, Hellebuyck had just given up five goals and been pulled from a start, for the sixth time during the 2016-17 campaign, the night before and he was at his vocal best - exuding confidence at a time where others could be tempted to run for cover or not bother to make themselves available.
“My game’s the best it’s ever been and If I continue to play this way, it’s going to be good enough,” said Hellebuyck. “If I stick with that game, I’m going to win a Stanley Cup and a Vezina one day.”
The truth of the matter was that Hellebuyck needed to play a lot better at the time.
He knew it, the Jets coaching staff knew it and his teammates knew it.
All parties also knew this was part of the process for a young goalie who was getting his first real taste of being a No. 1 guy for a team that was pretty inexperienced.
Bumps in the road are natural and Hellebuyck put in the work required to battle through the tough times and now he finds himself among the elite puck stoppers in the NHL.
Now he’s got the hardware to back up his bold words.
Over the years, Hellebuyck’s desire to achieve both goals has grown exponentially.
Now that he’s won a Vezina, Hellebuyck isn’t about to rest on his laurels. He wants to continue to improve and eventually lead his team to the promised land.
“Well, it’s great. It almost feels like getting a little bit of a monkey off my back after saying that,” said Hellebuyck, who becomes the first Jets goalie in franchise history to win the Vezina. “Now I’m really looking forward to the next one and the next one is going to be glorious. That’s winning a Cup. It’s not going to be easy and it’s not going to be just me. There’s going to be a whole team in front of me that are all going to have to buy in, kind of like we did this year, and just battle and grind. We have the locker room for it, it’s only going to get better and I’m really excited for that grind.”
What the next step in his development looks like for Hellebuyck remains to be seen, but he’s going to keep pushing for more.
“Right now, we’re really going to analyze everything that happened this year, really try to improve on anywhere that I feel like I can stop a couple more pucks. It might be my new area, but those are going to go a long way. It’s going to be about tightening my game and making it even more complete,” said Hellebuyck. “My whole game has kind of sculptured itself. I've tightened up a lot of things. I think the biggest and most important part is my mind and my mental game. It's gotten a lot calmer. I only care about the things that I need to care about and I focus on the things I need to focus on, and I got some experience under the belt.
“Every year you learn a little more about yourself and your game and you learn how to manage the roller coaster. I was very lucky to have all the people around me that I have at a very young age, so I was able to build this early in my career. And now that we've gotten into a good spot, we can only continue to grow. And I feel like the growth is exponential and that's what's very exciting about the future.”
It turns out the roller-coaster season of 2016-17 for Hellebuyck was an important building block.
“That first year he had 26 wins in the National Hockey League. That’s a successful season for a goaltender,” Jets goalie coach Wade Flaherty told reporters back in July when Hellebuyck was nominated for the award. “He had ups and downs and we learned from them. As a goaltender, you’re not gonna be able to go out there every single night and have that success. But you can learn from it and learn how to build your consistency. That’s another thing that Connor has. He’s able to get out there and be very consistent, but that also comes from his practice habits and his drive as an individual.”
Hellebuyck, who was also named an NHL first-team All-Star, believes in himself and that unshakeable confidence is one of the reasons he’s been up for the Vezina in two of the past three seasons.
Being mentally tough is important, so is finding the balance between blocking out the noise and using some of the comments from the naysayers as fuel.
When playing a high-pressure position like goal, having thick skin is a prerequisite.
“It’s definitely a little thicker. He’s one of the biggest critics of himself and he feels that he wants to stop every goal,” said Flaherty. “He’s a very, very competitive individual and a very, very competitive athlete.”
Hellebuyck was the backbone of the Jets this season, there’s no other way to describe it. During a campaign where the Jets overhauled the defence corps, Hellebuyck was incredibly busy.
He was also under siege on many nights.
Not only did Hellebuyck face the most shots (1,796), he made the most saves (1,656).
He also faced the most high-danger chances (412) at five-on-five - as charted by natural stat trick - and had the most high-danger saves (347).
That’s an impressive combination.
To take it a step further, Hellebuyck faced 37 or more shots on 13 different occasions and seemed to thrive when he was busy, posting a 10-1-2 record with a 2.08 goals-against average, and a .949 save percentage in those games.
His busiest night came in San Jose on Nov. 1, when Hellebuyck made a career-high 51 saves in a 3-2 win over the San Sharks - where he set the franchise record for saves in a period with 27 during the second.
While the numbers were impressive, they only tell part of the story.
At a time when more teams are going with more of a job share and getting away from a wide discrepancy between the starter and the backup, Hellebuyck has been a workhorse.
At this stage of his career, Hellebuyck would still like to play every game - even though he realizes it’s neither possible nor optimal.
How busy was Hellebuyck?
Hellebuyck tied for the league lead and games played with Carey Price (58), who made two more starts than the Jets netminder.
Hellebuyck still led the NHL with six shutouts and managed to finish second in the NHL in wins (31 compared to 35 for Vasilevskiy), while recording a 2.57 goals-against average and .922 save percentage.
As far as Hellebuyck is concerned, the journey from being chosen in the fifth round of the 2012 NHL Draft and going from fringe prospect to elite starting goalie at the top of his class is just getting started.
True to form, Hellebuyck didn’t sound like a guy who wants to relinquish the Vezina Trophy now that he’s won it for the first time.
"There are a lot of good goalies in the NHL. I can’t really say one guy is going to win it because every year someone blossoms and every year there are a ton of guys that put up good numbers and have really good years,” said Hellebuyck. “What I can say is that I’m not going to back down from it and I look forward to the fight to get back into the Vezina talks next year. And I’m going to enjoy this while I have it.”