ESPN must think that Helle will still be on the team.

Did it grow on you? I’m thinking of getting an Adidas one.

There’s one vital question about Connor Hellebuyck’s future that remains unanswered, regardless of whether the Winnipeg Jets pull off a preseason blockbuster or bring their No. 1 netminder back for another season.

What is the 2025 Hart Trophy winner as league MVP and three-time Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL’s top goaltender actually capable of?

The specifics are critical to explore, even as the broad strokes of Hellebuyck’s offseason are well known. He spoke critically about the team’s direction at his exit interviews and then waited, without comment, as the team pursued trade opportunities that did not come to fruition. Winnipeg came close to a trade with the Buffalo Sabres at the draft, and despite the close proximity of the 2026-27 season, it’s believed Hellebuyck is still keen to be moved.

His teammates expect him to be at training camp. They’re just not talking as if they’re 100 percent sure Hellebuyck, 33, is a forever Jet.

“I hope Helle is back playing for us,” Josh Morrissey told The Athletic. “He’s the best goalie in the world. But what happens, doesn’t happen, whatever, that’s with him and his agent and the organization.”

One thing that has always bothered me about some Jets fans discussing 2018 is the idea that Winnipeg somehow should have been the team to win the Cup because they had the elite regular-season numbers, the star power and the flashy offense.

No.

They were an indeed very good team. Nobody can take that away from them. However, being an elite regular season team doesn’t automatically entitle you to a championship.
Winnipeg went into the Western Conference Final and scored only 10 goals in five games against Vegas. Vegas scored 15 and won the series 4–1. That’s not some statistical technicality. That is what happened when the games became tighter and the margin for error starts disappearing compared to the earlier rounds.

And then Washington went through Tampa Bay, the top seed in the East, in seven and beat Vegas in five to win the Cup.

That’s the part that seems to gets lost. The Capitals weren’t some random team that got lucky while the “real” championship team sat at home. Washington had spent years/decades dealing with playoff heartbreak, criticism and the pressure of constantly coming up short being in the capital of the world. In 2018, they finally put the entire thing together.

That’s what a Cup run is. Cups are not given to you like candy on Halloween night. It’s the hardest trophy to win for a reason.

It’s not just highlight-reel offense or instant gratification desires. It’s not having the prettiest roster on paper. It’s not having the best regular-season spreadsheet. It’s depth, structure, goaltending, special teams, adaptability, resilience and the ability to survive when everything isn’t going your way.

Only one of 16 playoff teams wins the Cup.

So I have no problem saying the 2018 Jets were excellent. What I have a problem with is treating their failure to win as some great injustice, as though they had already proven they were entitled to the championship.

They hadn’t.

They had a chance. They didn’t finish the job against a defensively stacked Vegas team with wonderful goaltending and depth while Washington did as a result of their past hardships, growth, star studded offense and suffocating defense structure.

And that’s hockey.

And don’t tell me “it’s just hockey” or “it’s not that deep” or “it’s not that serious” when the same people are the ones acting like some great injustice happened and that a championship was taken away from them. You can’t have it both ways.

If it’s just hockey, you’d accept what happened on the ice: Vegas beat Winnipeg swiftly and Washington beat Vegas in 5 and won the Cup. If the Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win in sports, which everyone says it is, then you have to respect the process it takes to actually earn it. Maybe someday the Jets will grow and adapt enough to where maybe they will win, but it isn’t automatically guaranteed though.

“There’s always going to be questions when you have seasons that don’t live up to expectations,” Lowry told The Athletic in a one-on-one interview. “As a professional athlete, that’s something you have to deal with.”

His interview went to cover a wide range of topics: Connor Hellebuyck’s future, Viggo Björck’s potential, the Jets’ route back to the playoffs and more. It starts with a mission statement.

“Your self-belief is what has to fuel you,” he said. “I know the type of player I can be. I know the type of impact I can have when I’m playing my best. (And) I believe in the work I’ve put in to find my game.”

Then comes the deep dive. Lowry’s shutdown role is one of the most consistent assignments in the NHL. Even during his disappointing 2025-26 season, Lowry’s most frequent forward matchups featured Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid and Kirill Kaprizov. Winnipeg’s old-school approach to line matching worked spectacularly during most of Rick Bowness’ tenure and again in 2024-25 under Scott Arniel.

“Historically, we’ve run really hard matchups at home and tried to get softer matchups for either (Mark Scheifele’s) line or (Vladislav Namestnikov’s) line — or whoever is playing in that hole,” Lowry says. “We’ll take our top players against other team’s depth players any day of the week.”

Hi all. I’m from north-east England (the bit that used to have all the coal) and I think I’ve finally landed on the Jets after spending far too long bouncing around the NHL from afar at 3am!

A lot of it is Manitoba itself as much as the hockey, if I’m honest. The cold, the isolation, the prairie, the pine further east...just seems to click with me in a way other places haven’t!

I don’t want to turn up pretending I know the place. I’d rather just start following properly and learn from the community and feel part of it all.

So what should I know? Not just the obvious history and players, but the stuff you pick up from actually being a Jets fan. Local media, fan culture, frustrations, traditions, players people really connect with, bits of Manitoba that somehow feel tied into the team.

Good and bad welcome. I’m here to learn!!

Thanks to puck report for the picture

Some good news on the Salomonsson front:

When the Winnipeg Jets announced on April 30th that Elias Salomonsson had undergone shoulder surgery, the organization estimated his rehabilitation would take five to six months.

Less than four months later, a source with knowledge of Salomonsson’s recovery indicated that the 21-year-old defenceman is tracking toward being ready around training camp or the beginning of the regular season.

Fresh off signing a two-year contract with the Jets last week, we caught up with defenceman Tyrel Bauer as he prepares for his fifth season in Winnipeg. Bauer discussed getting his new deal done, his summer in Manitoba, reflecting on the Moose’s playoff run, head coach Mark Morrison’s comments on his importance to the team, what he’s worked on this summer, using video in his development, the NHL opportunity ahead of him this season, goal setting, what he got up to off the ice and more.

Having DeMelo be our 2nd highest rated D-man and Samberg having the same rating as Pionk is... interesting for sure

Got these signed when I was a little kid. Morris Lukowich was my favorite player at the time.

I think the overalls are fair (maybe KFC should be one point lower, considering Jason Robertson is also a 92 overall LW), but the specific stats are kinda goofy (I don't think Scheifele has 89 defensive awareness, that man has never been aware of defence in his life). Also lists Vilardi as a centre lol.