HENDERSON, Nev. — Let’s flash back three pre-seasons ago, to October 2023.
The Winnipeg Jets were facing a tipping point.
Their No. 1 centre and No. 1 goaltender, Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck, were about to enter their walk years. Uncertainty was in the air.
Would one or both critical stars, in a market that can struggle to lure and retain elite talent, exercise their right to choose a new city? Or would they keep the band together and extend the competitive window of a core that battled as deep as the Western Conference final in 2018?
As negotiations with the players’ respective camps and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff dragged on, the teammates stayed in loose contact. Contending would be significantly more challenging if one bolted and the other remained.
“Obviously, we were in contact through it. You know, ‘How are things going?’ All that kind of jazz. But at the same time, your own personal situation is your own personal situation. So, we were in contact but also at a very surface level,” Scheifele recalled Thursday in a sit-down interview with Sportsnet.ca at the NHL Player Media Tour.
Well, the forward and the goalie separately signed identical, Jets-friendly, seven-year, $59.5-million extensions. It made for one happy autumn day in Manitoba.
“I’m ready to be a Jet for life and bring a Cup to this city, because I truly believe we can get it done here,” Hellebuyck said on the day he committed.
Skip ahead just two seasons into those twin pacts — one that featured a Presidents’ Trophy victory and a Hart for Hellebuyck, another that dissolved into a playoff whiff — and only Scheifele believes.
Hellebuyck has requested a trade out of town, made his demand public, and suggests he will not report to training camp this week, despite owing the Jets five more years of service.
Scheifele says he became aware of Hellebuyck’s demand when the goalie’s agent tweeted a statement of discontent. But there were signs.
“You definitely hear things or see things, and you’re unsure,” Scheifele said. “But you kind of focus on yourself more, because you know if you (focus on) the business side of things or someone else’s personal situation, then you can drive yourself crazy.”
Hellebuyck has dug in, but Cheveldayoff has too.
The executive hasn’t received a trade package to his liking, despite interest from Buffalo, Utah, Carolina, and surely others.
The catch here is that the landing spots with the most mutual interest are contenders. Contenders don’t want to give up NHL-ready talent; they’d rather spend futures.
Cheveldayoff is reluctant to accept picks and prospects because the Jets want 2025-26 to be a blip, not the beginning of a reset.
Lesser contenders may be open to giving up players for a workhorse goalie, but Hellebuyck wishes to win a Cup.
Will Hellebuyck — whose desire for a championship seems to have only been fuelled by his golden performance in Milan for Team USA — keep refusing to report once he starts missing paycheques?
Will Cheveldayoff lower his ask to rid the drama?
And how can the setback Jets drive back to the post-season in the powerhouse Central without their three-time Vezina champ in the pipes?
“He’s arguably the best goalie in the world,” Scheifele said. “But whatever happens, you just got to put your own focus on yourself and focus on the team and continue to do what you can do to be the best player that you can be, be the best player for the team around you, and try to win games. I just want to win games, win the Stanley Cup, and that's my focus every day.”
Don’t blame Hellebuyck’s teammates or Winnipeg’s diehard fans if that focus gets increasingly difficult to maintain with training camp opening next week and the puck dropping before month’s end.
“Obviously, I want him to be my goaltender. But at the same time, you have to kind of turn your teammate face off and turn your friend face on. Just be there for him as a friend, and also know that there’s stuff that’s out of your control.”
This is a stalemate built on control: Hellebuyck with the talent, Cheveldayoff with the chequebook and the final say. Another American star asking out of Canada, eh?
“Obviously, that seems to be the trend right now. I think it could just be situational. Like, I try not to read into that side of things as much, just because everyone’s situation is so different,” Scheifele said.
“You just don't know. You don’t know what’s going on in their life. You don't know what's going through their head. And everyone’s entitled to how they want things to be. So, I don't look at it (as) the Americans leaving Canada, or else you could drive yourself crazy.”
As part of what appears to be an inevitable trade, Cheveldayoff must find a goalie to ride tandem with the recently signed Stuart Skinner, who suddenly could be in for a hefty workload.
“He’s a great guy. Really excited to get camp started and see his game and get to know him more on a teammate level,” said Scheifele, who had previously met Skinner at some golf events.
Scheifele himself, at age 33, is coming off his most productive season, piling up 103 points last winter.
The self-diagnosed hockey nerd has had to wrestle with the fact that his great individual success coincided with his team’s worst finish in a decade.
What went wrong in 2025-26? And how do the Jets fix those issues for 2026-27?
“There’s definitely a lot of things going through this brain of mine that is always churning. I’m not going to share all the thoughts because I want to make sure we get all on the same page as a team first,” Scheifele said.
“What it comes down to is getting on the same page as a team and knowing what our goals are.”
Knowing who their goalies are is imperative, too, if Winnipeg wants to avoid losing any more believers.
