Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
I was thinking the same thing yesterday. Fleury had some playoff meltdowns in his career, but he won his first Cup in his fifth season in the league. I honestly can’t think of a Vezina-winning goalie who has struggled so much in the playoffs, let alone a multiple-Vezina goalie. If the Jets don’t pull this out of the fire, Helleybuck’s legacy will be one of the biggest playoff chokers in NHL history.
And where does that leave the Jets going forward? Do they consider moving him? Can they, with that contract?
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Yeah it's pretty interesting as if they can't get out of the first round after the regular season they just had, you have to wonder what's going to be different next year or the year after. Their key players are all now near or into their 30's and the window is getting close to half shut. The problem with trading him is that he's been so integral to their regular season success that without him, they probably fall back into the teams like the Flames, Blues, Canucks, etc that have to grind things out for the wildcard spots. Given how fickle that market is becoming with the attendance issues, I'm not sure they can afford to take a step back so I imagine they will just run things back next season and hope that it's the year they get over the hump.
Still series is tied so plenty of time for them to turn things around but Hellebuyck is going to have to sort things out quickly.