4 NHL Trade Ideas for the Teams That Missed Out on Connor Hellebuyck

The Connor Hellebuyck saga is finally over with Friday's trade that sent him from the Winnipeg Jets to the New Jersey Devils.

While it is a huge deal for the Devils and could open a new window for Stanley Cup contention for them, an almost equally intriguing story is what the teams that missed out on Hellebuyck might do for a goalie option.

So let's take a look at a few teams that could have been in the running for Hellebuyck and try to come up with some options to help them fill their potential goalie needs.

New York Rangers

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The idea: Trade for Montreal Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault

Not that the Rangers were ever seriously in the market for Hellebuyck given his contract situation, but they could be interested in adding another goalie given the season-ending injury to starter Igor Shesterkin.

They have recently been linked to Utah's Karel Vejmelka and Buffalo's Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen, but a lot of that could have been dependent on one of those teams actually landing Hellebuyck and no longer needing either goalie.

Both goalies are signed long-term to contracts worth north of $4 million per season.

While those are not small numbers, they should be manageable for long-term backups as the salary cap continues to rise.

The question is whether or not the Rangers actually need that.

Shesterkin is obviously locked in as their starter when he returns next season, and rookie Dylan Garand is showing he has a chance to be a viable NHL goalie and extremely cheap backup. Why give up more significant assets and take up more salary cap space if you don't need to do it?

What might make more sense for the Rangers is simply finding a short-term, rental option for the rest of this season.

One name that could be available and make sense: Montreal's Sam Montembeault. The Canadiens have two young goalies that they really like in Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler that should be the future, while Montembeault is in the final year of his contract and likely the odd man out. He has had some really good seasons in the past, and could be a solid veteran to accompany Garand for the foreseeable future.

The value here shouldn't be anything more than a draft pick.

Let's say the Rangers send one of their four third-round picks over the next two years and a later pick to the Canadiens for Montembeault.

Carolina Hurricanes<br>

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The trade idea: Alexander Nikishin to Minnesota for Filip Gustavsson

Even though the Hurricanes have won over the years without making major investments in the goalie position, they were still a potential player for Hellebuyck and would have been a fascinating landing spot. It would have given Hellebuyck one of the best defensive teams to play behind that he has ever had in the NHL, and would have almost certainly made them the favorites to win a second straight Stanley Cup.

But the Hurricanes were not willing to meet Winnipeg's asking price in terms of forwards, which currently leaves them with Pyotr Kochetkov and Brandon Bussi in their net.

While Bussi played well enough to help them win the Cup a year ago, there are still some legitimate questions as to whether or not he can do that over a full season. He is off to a slow start so far this season and is far from a sure-thing as a regular option.

A goalie upgrade could be in the cards here, even if it is not one that is as exciting or impactful as Hellebuyck.

The great thing for Carolina is its system is so structured, so well played, and so steady that it really doesn't need a goalie that has to steal a lot of games. It just requires a goalie that will not lose games. There are a couple of intriguing veteran trade options out there.

One of the most intriguing: Minnesota's Filip Gustavsson.

Hear me out on this.

Jesper Wallstedt has become the No. 1 starter in Minnesota, and while the Wild might like the idea of keeping both Wallstedt and Gustavsson long-term, that's probably not viable financially given Gustavsson's $6.8 million cap hit over the next four-and-a-half seasons and whatever Wallstedt's next contract looks like (probably not cheap).

Carolina has a great trade chip in defenseman Alexander Nikishin, and Minnesota might be in the market for a longer-term, young defense option given the uncertainty around the future of Quinn Hughes. Not that Nikishin would be a suitable Hughes replacement, but he certainly still has some untapped potential that could be of interest to the Wild.

He remains unsigned in Carolina as a restricted free agent, and it only seems to be a matter of when and where he gets traded as opposed to if he gets traded. Why not use him as part of a trade to get a long-term goalie option? Gustavsson has had some big years during his career and could do well playing behind Carolina's defensive structure.

Utah Mammoth and Los Angeles Kings

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The trade idea: 3-team trade idea involving Stuart Skinner and Karel Vejmelka

Utah missed out on one Winnipeg goalie, but maybe it could get a different one?

And maybe it could use that as an opportunity to move Karel Vejmelka's contract to another team (the Los Angeles Kings) that also missed out on Hellebuyck this week.

Here's the proposal:

Los Angeles gets: G Karel Vejmelka

Winnipeg gets: F Alex Turcotte

Utah gets: G Stuart Skinner

Here's how it works: Los Angeles trades Alex Turcotte to Winnipeg for Stuart Skinner, and then turns around and trades Skinner to Utah for Vejmelka.

You can throw in some draft pick compensation from each team to sweeten the pot as needed, but this is the bones of it. It allows a couple of players that might need a change of scenery to get one, and Utah gets to try a different goalie that, while inconsistent, is capable of putting together decent stretches when used correctly.

Winnipeg currently has three goalies on its NHL roster after the Hellebuyck trade, with Nico Daws joining Skinner and Clay Stevenson. That is probably not going to work long-term, and something is going to have to give. Stevenson is a talented player that should get an extended look before they have to make a decision on him as an unrestricted free agent after the season, and this would open the door for him to do that. While Skinner has had a nice start to the season, that might actually make him the most tradable goalie of the three still on Winnipeg's roster. Especially if it falls out of playoff contention as the season goes on.

Turcotte has simply not panned out as hoped in Los Angeles and could use a fresh start somewhere else. Even after adding Dawson Mercer in the Hellebuyck trade, Winnipeg should still be in the market for more forward depth, and Turcotte could be a low-risk, high-reward gamble.

Utah obviously has a lot of belief in Sebastian Cossa after trading a first-round pick for him over the summer, while its organizational belief in Vejmelka might be starting to fade given his struggles and general inconsistency over the past couple of years. Skinner doesn't exactly solve the inconsistency concern, but he is a cheaper option, on a shorter contract, and could create some more long-term flexibility.

The Kings have two veteran goalies on their roster in Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg, but neither player has been close to good enough this season and both players are unrestricted free agents after this season. For all of their flaws, the Kings generally defend well and could create a favorable situation for Vejmelka to get back on the right track. The Kings mostly need a goalie that isn't going to lose games for them. It is a low bar, and one that should not be difficult to reach.

Buffalo Sabres

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The trade idea: A short-term rental

The Sabres might end up regretting not doing more to get Hellebuyck.

After a quiet offseason that only saw them subtract talent from the roster instead of adding to it, the Sabres are off to a slow start and have more questions than answers in net. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has not played well, and seems to be a complete wild-card every season when it comes to what his performance will look like.

Getting a player like Hellebuyck would have not only been a boost to the roster, it would have given the fan base a needed lift as well. These people watched 14 years of rancid hockey, got a taste of success during the 2025-26 season, and were rewarded by a shockingly quiet and disappointing offseason that did nothing to make the NHL team better in the short-term.

There are not many great long-term options on the trade market right now for goalies, so the Sabres might have to turn their attention to more short-term options.

There a handful of pending UFA's that could be on their radar, ranging from Detroit's John Gibson, to Seattle's Philipp Grubauer, to St. Louis' Jordan Binnington.

Binnington is the option they should avoid.

But Gibson and Grubauer have had some solid performances in recent years behind sub-par defensive teams, and could both be on the market if their teams slip out of playoff contention (as both very easily could do over the coming weeks and months).

In both cases we might be talking about draft pick capital going back the other way, and probably not significant draft pick capital. Maybe a second-round pick. At most. Maybe a third-round pick and a later pick, or lower-tier prospect. It would not be an overly exciting move, and certainly not as exciting as Hellebuyck would have been, but it could at least offer a little bit of stability to a position that might be lacking it. At least for the short-term.