Connor Hellebuyck to the Avalanche? Rival GMs Have Interesting Theory

Colorado is currently rostering Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Martin Necas, Devon Toews, and a host of other top NHL players, making them one of the league’s most consistent threats every season. They have one of the deepest rosters in the league, with the only real question mark being the elite status of their goaltending. That’s what makes a recent rumor so interesting.

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On paper, they’re already terrifying enough. So when word got out that the Avalanche may have looked into trading for Connor Hellebuyck — arguably the best goaltender alive — the hockey world did a double-take.

What Friedman Actually Said

On the latest episode of his 32 Thoughts podcast, Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman said that a couple of teams told him they wondered whether Colorado had taken a run at Hellebuyck. Friedman was careful to frame it as speculation from rival executives, not a confirmed pursuit — he said flatly that he didn’t know how a deal like that could even work, or what Colorado would offer, and wasn’t sure Winnipeg would want to see it happen at all.

“By the way, I had a couple of teams say to me they wondered if Colorado took a shot at Connor Hellebuyck,” Friedman said. “I don’t know how that could work, I don’t know what they would offer, and I’m not sure that Winnipeg would want to see that. But there were a couple of teams that were like, they kind of suspected that the Avalanche considered it.”

Hellebuyck to Avs a Long Shot — But Not Completely Impossible

The math is the real problem. Hellebuyck is locked in through 2031 at an $8.5 million cap hit, and Colorado is already tight against the ceiling with Nathan MacKinnon’s contract alone eating $12.6 million and Necas another $11.5 million. The real issue might be the deal coming for Makar, which could approach $20 million per season.

Fitting Hellebuyck’s deal onto the books would mean moving multiple established roster players just to clear space — the kind of subtraction that could hollow out the depth that makes Colorado dangerous in the first place. If the Jets were open to taking back MacKenzie Blackwood, that would be a start. Still, there’d need to be a lot more going back to entice Winnipeg to make this move.

And, it seems unlikely the Jets would jump at the chance to trade Hellebuyck within the division. Winnipeg and Colorado both play in the Central, meaning the Jets would be handing a franchise goaltender to a team they’d face repeatedly, including potentially in the playoffs. Teams almost never do that voluntarily.

That has to mean the Avs were ready to make a serious pitch. A front office doesn’t get linked to a Vezina-caliber name out of desperation. It gets linked to one because everyone around the league assumes Colorado is still hunting for that one final piece that could turn a very good team into an unbeatable one.

The Real Story Was Somewhere Else

While Colorado’s name floated around as a hypothetical, the more advanced Hellebuyck conversations were happening on the other side of the country. Buffalo reportedly offered a package built around the 4th overall pick, goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and a player believed to be Jack Quinn — and Winnipeg still said no. Carolina was in the mix too. Those were real, structured trade discussions. Colorado’s was, by comparison, a rumor about a rumor.

As of now, Hellebuyck is still a Jet. Winnipeg even added veteran goaltender Stuart Skinner in free agency, which reads as either insurance or leverage, depending on who you ask. The idea of Hellebuyck in a Colorado sweater is, for the moment, exactly what it sounds like: a fun hypothetical that a few executives couldn’t stop thinking about, even if none of them could quite explain how it would actually happen.

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