The Friday Four is a collection of thoughts and information on some intriguing player storylines from around the NHL. On deck this week is:
• Hellebuyck deserves to be in the Hart conversation
• The future is now for Cooley
• Blackwood a perfect fit for the Avs
• Roslovic stepping up in Carolina
On the surface, there wasn’t anything particularly special about the Anaheim Ducks beating the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 on Thursday night. Just an underdog catching the Jets on an off night in early January. The kind of upset that happens dozens of times across the league throughout the season and something you wouldn’t typically think twice about.
The only unusual thing was the play of Connor Hellebuyck. The Jets goalie has been so good this year that when he has just a mediocre performance, it really stands out. Hellebuyck has been incredibly dominant in 2024-25 and elevated his game even higher than the lofty standards we’re used to seeing from him. Perhaps even to an MVP level.
It’s extremely rare for a goaltender to win the Hart Trophy.
Carey Price was the last goalie to do it in 2015, but he was only the second in the 21st century. In fact, only three netminders have won since 1961-62 when Jacques Plante captured the Hart. That said, there have been a handful of netminder nominees in the last 25 years, though winners have been scarce.
Part of that is because the Vezina Trophy already crowns the league’s best goaltender and the Norris is for the league’s best defenceman, so you need to have a really exceptional season to work your way into the conversation when there are a handful of stud forwards exceeding 100 points annually. There’s still a long way to go in the 2024-25 campaign, but Hellebuyck may very well be having one of those seasons.
The Jets goaltender has been spectacular this year, sporting a 24-5-2 record with a ridiculous .927 save percentage and a goals-against average of 2.06. He already has five shutouts and we’re barely into January. To put that in perspective, the league leader in shutouts in each of the previous two seasons had only six and Hellebuyck is one off that mark with still well over three months to go.
Those are Hellebuyck’s numbers in the generic categories we grade goalies in, but let’s look a little deeper. Hellebuyck also leads all goaltenders with 26.5 goals saved above expected, nearly eight goals saved better than the next closest goalie. Winnipeg has also made it tougher on Hellebuyck this season. The Jets rank 21st in shots allowed per game in 2024-25 and 23rd in high danger chances against, compared to 11th and 18th, respectively, a year ago. Hellebuyck was excellent in 2023-24 but he’s been even better this season under tougher conditions.
The 31-year-old also has been incredibly consistent. Of his 31 starts, 24 of them have been quality with only seven games coming with a save percentage below .900. He’s also allowed more than three goals just four times all year. That’s been critically important lately when the Jets lost defenceman Dylan Samberg to injury in late November. Samberg is a key member of the Jets blue line, averaging more than 20 minutes per night and leading the team in short-handed ice time. Hellebuyck has remained rock solid without Samberg, though, posting 11 quality starts in 12 appearances during the month of December.
Let’s also not forget Hellebuyck has done all this after the Jets endured a coaching change this off-season. Rick Bowness retired at the end of last year and Scott Arniel went from an assistant to head coach. That’s not a seismic shift, but still a significant adjustment and many felt Winnipeg may take a step back this season. Instead, the Jets sits first overall in the NHL in the standings, as well as first in goal differential and second in points percentage. All in no small part thanks to Hellebuyck.
As good as Hellebuyck has played, there are a number of players that deserve consideration if you had to vote for the Hart today. Martin Necas got off to a torrid start, Kirill Kaprizov is arguably a top-five player in the league, Quinn Hughes has taken his game to an even higher level and Mitch Marner has been unbelievable with Auston Matthews sidelined. Then there’s usual suspects Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov, Leon Draisaitl and Nathan MacKinnon, all of whom could make a case to claim the award. It won’t be easy for Hellebuyck to overcome all these talents, but he does have an argument that he’s been the most dominant at his position.
Both Igor Shesterkin and Sergei Bobrovsky have been nominated for the Hart in the past 10 years, but Hellebuyck feels like the goaltending fraternity’s best shot to win in quite some time. Hellebuyck leads all goalies in games played, wins, saves, save percentage, shots faced, goals against, shutouts, goals saved above expected and minutes played. If he can guide the Jets to a Presidents’ Trophy, that will only bolster his case.
If he keeps playing like this, it’s going to be very hard to leave Hellebuyck’s name off the Hart ballot.
Logan Cooley, Utah HC
There’s been a lot of chatter this season about Connor Bedard’s challenges in year two, Macklin Celebrini’s impressive rookie campaign and Matvei Michkov's incredible skills, but there hasn’t been near enough hype about Logan Cooley.
The Utah forward is in the middle of a breakout season and is starting to make a good case as the best player from the 2022 draft. This is probably a good time to give a nod to our own Jason Bukala, who had Cooley at the top of his draft list back in the summer of 2022.
It’s been an offensive explosion for Cooley over his past 19 games, tallying 22 points and putting him on a pace to break 70 in 2024-25. He’s really clicked with Dylan Guenther, who has been a great finisher on Cooley’s wing, as the two appear set to be a dynamic duo for Utah for at least the next decade.
Cooley’s offence has really taken a jump in his sophomore year, but he’s shown growth in some other key areas as well. He’s a plus-7 after going minus-13 as a rookie, improving at the centre position, which is a very challenging learning process defensively for a young player. Cooley also is earning more of head coach Andre Tourigny’s trust. The 20-year-old is playing a minute more per game than he did in 2023-24 and he’s been entrusted with taking more faceoffs. He’s on pace to take about 100 more draws than he did last season.
Despite the great start for Cooley, there is still room for improvement. His faceoff winning percentage has jumped to 44.2 per cent, which is much better than how he performed as a rookie, but still not No. 1-centre material. He could also stand to shoot the puck a little more also, as he’s currently nowhere close to even a 200-shot pace.
That said, Cooley still has a lot of developing to do and it does feel like he’s still only scratching the surface of his abilities. As he gains more confidence, the shot volume will no doubt increase and the more experience he gets in the faceoff circle, that percentage should rise, too.
There’s still a long way to go to give a full and proper evaluation of the 2022 draft class, but Cooley is starting to separate himself from the other top picks. Juraj Slafkovsky has slowed down some this season, Shane Wright is making strides but the jury is still out on whether he’ll be a top-six player and Simon Nemec has been back and forth from the AHL.
All those players may still very well turn out to be great NHLers, bot so far Cooley looks like the safest bet.
The trade deadline is still more than two months away, but the Colorado Avalanche may have already made the best deal.
Colorado has looked like a different team since acquiring Mackenzie Blackwood from the San Jose Sharks, giving them the solid goaltending they’ve been desperately searching for all season. Since joining the Avs, Blackwood is 6-1-0 with a .932 save percentage and hasn’t allowed more than two goals in any of his appearances.
That’s more than enough for the Avalanche, who are a top-10 team in goals per game, averaging well over three goals a night. They’re loaded with talent and could excel with league-average goaltending, but if Blackwood continues to provide them with these numbers, they will be almost impossible to beat.
Colorado got off to such a slow start partly because they couldn’t get a save from Alexandar Georgiev. They also weren’t very good defensively. The Avs we were one of the worst teams at giving up high danger chances earlier in the year and Georgiev couldn’t compensate for it. Although they’ve improved in that area, the Avalanche still rank in the bottom half of the league when it comes to allowing high danger chances, but Blackwood is much better equipped to handle that style of play.
Blackwood just spent parts of the past two seasons with the Sharks, who were one of the worst teams in the league and horrible defensively. He still managed to post a .911 save percentage in 19 games in San Jose this season, which is an incredible accomplishment. The Avs no doubt recognized if Blackwood could do that in San Jose, he could perform even better on a much stronger team with more goal support. He’s used to being under siege and facing quality chances, so he’s capable of bailing Colorado out when needed and now has the benefit of having a better group in front of him.
The Avs were so impressed with Blackwood’s start they already gave him a lucrative contract extension. It remains to be seen if that will prove wise or not, but so far he’s been as advertised and a perfect fit for this Avalanche team. Colorado could be a big problem in the playoffs if Blackwood continues to play at this level.
Jack Roslovic, Carolina Hurricanes
Jack Roslovic might have some staying power this season.
Roslovic has seven points in his past six games and is up to 17 goals on the season. He’s occupying a spot on the Carolina Hurricanes' top line, next to Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis, a role normally reserved for Andrei Svechnikov.
Svechnikov is ice cold and Roslovic is picking up the slack, something that didn’t seem sustainable earlier in the year. The 27-year-old is already closing in on his career high in goals for a season and we’re not even halfway through the campaign yet. His shooting percentage of over 22 per cent is giving Roslovic a big boost. That will come down eventually, but Roslovic has at least shown enough consistency this season to make you believe he can provide Carolina some much-needed secondary scoring.
That should be most beneficial come playoff time, where the Canes have struggled to find enough goals to break through. They’ve been outdueled by Shesterkin and Bobrovsky over the past two post-seasons, sending them home earlier than they hoped. Roslovic may not be a game changer, but he’s another scorer that could make a difference over a long playoff series if he can chip in with a few extra goals.
One of the few knocks on the Hurricanes in recent years is that they’re almost too balanced and maybe lack enough scoring. It certainly hasn’t been an issue in the regular season, but the offence has stalled at times in the playoffs. The Hurricanes will likely target someone at the deadline to help in that area as well, though Roslovic has been a huge surprise and a major bargain that I’m not sure the Canes even expected to work out this swimmingly.
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