Jet Nation

Lore & Background

After playing one season in the North American Hockey League with the Odessa Jackalopes, Hellebuyck was selected by the Jets in the fifth round, 130th overall, of the 2012 NHL entry draft. He spent two years with the UMass Lowell River Hawks, where he received the inaugural Mike Richter Award as the top goaltender in college hockey. Hellebuyck started his professional career during the 2014–15 season with the Jets' American Hockey League affiliate, the St. John's IceCaps.

He began as a starter with the Jets during the 2016–17 season, where he quickly amassed success. Considered one of the best goaltenders in the NHL, Hellebuyck is a Hart Memorial Trophy winner as the league's most valuable player, three-time Vezina Trophy winner as the best goaltender in the league, and two-time William M. Jennings Trophy winner for allowing the fewest goals against. Longtime Jets backup Eric Comrie has described Hellebuyck as possessing an exceptional hockey mind, stating that Hellebuyck regularly shares analytical breakdowns of the game that Comrie said he would never have conceived on his own.

Internationally, Hellebuyck represents the United States. At the 2026 Winter Olympics, he was their starting goaltender, helping them win Olympic gold for the first time since 1980, making 41 saves in a 2–1 victory, including recording an assist on the game winning goal by Jack Hughes. For his outstanding performance, U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would award Hellebuyck the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. For his performance at the Olympics, he earned the nickname 'The Secretary of Defense'.

Reader's Guide

Hellebuyck was born on May 19, 1993, in Commerce Township, Michigan, to parents Chuck and Erin. His father is a technical training engineer and former stock car racing driver, while his mother is an artist and children's books author. Hellebuyck is the middle of three siblings; his older brother Chris also played hockey before retiring in 2016–17. Growing up, Hellebuyck looked up to goaltender Olaf Kölzig.

After completing his high school career at Walled Lake Northern High School in Commerce Township, Michigan, Hellebuyck played one year of junior hockey as a member of the Odessa Jackalopes. He earned a scholarship to play for the UMass Lowell River Hawks in the NCAA Men's Division I Hockey East Conference, where in two seasons he played 54 games and compiled a 38–12–2 record with a .946 save percentage, 1.60 goals against average and 12 shutouts.

He won the Hockey East Championship and made a Frozen Four appearance in his freshman year. Lowell would repeat as Hockey East Champions the following year and Hellebuyck became the only player in Hockey East history to be named tournament MVP twice. Following his second year, Hellebuyck's outstanding play was rewarded with a selection to the 2013–14 All-Hockey East First Team. For the 2013–14 season, Hellebuyck was awarded the inaugural Mike Richter Award as the top goaltender in college hockey.

Hellebuyck departed UMass Lowell as the school's shutout leader with 12 shutouts in 54 games, surpassing former National Hockey League and former UMass Lowell goaltender Carter Hutton. He also owns single-season records for best save percentage (.952) and GAA (1.37), both in 2012–13. Hellebuyck chose to forgo his final two years of college eligibility by signing a three-year, entry-level contract with the Winnipeg Jets on April 5, 2014. He was immediately assigned to the St. John's IceCaps, the Jets' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, for the remainder of the season but did not play a game.

After being cut from the Winnipeg Jets' training camp, Hellebuyck spent the entirety of the 2014–15 season with the IceCaps. He finished his rookie season with a 28–22–5 record, 2.58 GAA, and 0.921 save percentage. Following the 2014–15 season, the IceCaps moved to Winnipeg for the 2015–16 season and were renamed to the Manitoba Moose.

Franchise Continuity and the Atlanta-to-Winnipeg Transition

The Winnipeg Jets' award history is shaped by a unique dual identity. The franchise first entered the NHL in 1999 under the Atlanta Thrashers banner, and its honors list encompasses both the Thrashers era and the post-2011 Winnipeg period. This continuity means that individual and team trophies, All-Star selections, and career achievements are tracked across both incarnations. However, the 2011 relocation also marked the end of certain internal recognitions.

Two annual awards—the Players' Player Award and the Team MVP—were discontinued when the team moved from Atlanta to Winnipeg, reflecting a break in the franchise's internal culture. Meanwhile, the broader award structure, including the Community Service Award, the Dan Snyder Memorial Trophy, and the Three Stars of the Game Award, carried forward into the Winnipeg era, preserving a thread of tradition even as the team's geographic and cultural identity shifted.

All-Star Game Legacy

Since the franchise entered the NHL as the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999, fifteen All-Star Games have been held, with at least one Jets or Thrashers player selected to represent the franchise in every year except 2002. The All-Star Game itself is a mid-season exhibition featuring top players from across the league, and selections are sometimes made by fan vote, with the game's Most Valuable Player also recognized. The franchise's All-Star history includes a notable hosting moment: the 56th edition of the game took place at Philips Arena while the team was still based in Atlanta.

The All-Star Game has been absent in various years for a range of reasons—labor stoppages in 1995, 2005, and 2013; the Winter Olympic Games in 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2026; the 1979 Challenge Cup and Rendez-vous '87 series against the Soviet national team; the 2021 cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and the 2025 replacement by the 4 Nations Face-Off.

The Winnipeg Jets Hall of Fame and the HOT Line

On July 15, 2016, the Winnipeg Jets announced the creation of their own Hall of Fame, designed to honor the impact and accomplishments of the team's hockey legends and to celebrate the rich history of professional hockey in the city. A distinctive feature of this hall is that it extends beyond the current franchise's roster to include former players from the original Winnipeg Jets, making it a broader tribute to the city's hockey heritage. The inaugural class, inducted on October 19, 2016, was the legendary HOT Line trio: Anders Hedberg, Bobby Hull, and Ulf Nilsson.

This selection immediately connected the modern franchise to the storied past of the original Jets, whose players and data are otherwise excluded from the current franchise's award records. The Hall of Fame thus serves as a bridge between two eras of Winnipeg hockey, acknowledging that the city's identity in the sport stretches well beyond the 1999 Atlanta entry into the NHL.

Retired Numbers and the Dan Snyder Story

The Winnipeg Jets have not officially retired any jersey numbers, a fact that speaks to the franchise's relatively young history. However, the story behind number 37 is one of the most poignant in the team's lore. Following the death of player Dan Snyder in 2003, the franchise chose not to issue that number for thirteen years, from 2003 to 2016. In 2016, goaltender Connor Hellebuyck began wearing number 37, doing so with the explicit blessing of the Snyder family.

This gesture transformed a tribute into a living part of the team's present. The Dan Snyder Memorial Trophy, an annual award given to the player who embodies perseverance, dedication, and hard work without reward or recognition so that his team and teammates might succeed, further cements Snyder's legacy within the franchise's culture. Separately, number 99 remains out of circulation league-wide, retired in honor of Wayne Gretzky on February 6, 2000.

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