The Jets finally let Connor Hellebuyck go on Friday, four months after he asked them to, and the goalie who’s won three of the last six Vezinas is now a New Jersey Devil. The trade cost New Jersey a real haul: Dawson Mercer, Nick Bjugstad, Alexander Command, Nico Daws, a 2029 second-rounder and a 2027 seventh. Sunny Mehta didn’t blink. Hellebuyck comes with $8.5 million in cap hit through 2030-31 and a full no-move clause; that’s the kind of commitment you only make for a goalie you think closes the gap between “good team” and “team that wins in June.”
Rangers fans, you’re allowed to feel something ugly about this one.
Hellebuyck isn’t just a name GMs throw around at the deadline. He won his third Vezina in 2024-25 at 47-12-3 with a 2.00 goals-against average, a season good enough to also take home the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP. He led Team USA to Olympic gold last winter with a .956 save percentage. Across 625 career games he’s stopped shots at a .916 clip and racked up 45 shutouts. All of that walks into the Metro Division wearing red and black. NHL.com called it proof the front office believes its Cup window is now, not later.
The Rangers are living the opposite story. Igor Shesterkin, the actual cornerstone of this whole 2026-27 reset, is done for the year after his own skate jammed into the post at 8:20 of the second period against Washington on October 9. He was 3-1 with a 1.79 GAA at the time. Mike Sullivan called him one of the cornerstones of the organization; J.T. Miller said it was a shock to everyone in the room; Adam Fox called him the pillar on the back end. None of that changes what’s in net now, which is Dylan Garand, a 2025-26 AHL call-up who went 16-15-2 with a 2.83 GAA in Hartford a year ago and is suddenly the Rangers’ plan after Joonas Korpisalo also went down week-to-week on October 1.
To be clear, Garand hasn’t embarrassed anybody. He stopped 19 of 21 against Vancouver in his first start and made 29 saves against Anaheim a week later. “I’m excited for the opportunity,” he said after taking over. “Going to put my heart and soul on the line for these guys and this city every night and just try to help the team win.” That’s a fine attitude for a kid with three NHL starts to his name. It is not the same as having a three-time Vezina winner strapped in behind a shaky blue line.
New Jersey’s locker room, understandably, is thrilled:
RAISE HELLE!
Connor Hellebuyck is a New Jersey Devil: https://t.co/HCehRGOQI5 pic.twitter.com/dZGNQR16m1
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) October 23, 2026
Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff put it more diplomatically after months of a trade request turning into a training-camp suspension that cost Hellebuyck roughly $930,000 in salary: “I certainly wish we could have done it four months ago… but here we are here today.” Translation: everybody involved knew this was coming except the Rangers, who now have to play a goalie evaluation period in real time against a division that just got measurably harder to beat in net.
A goalie is only as good as the five skaters and the structure in front of him, so none of this guarantees New Jersey anything in April. But the Rangers didn’t just lose a goaltending battle this week. They lost it to the team they have to climb past to matter in the Metro at all.
