Connor Hellebuyck addressed Winnipeg media on Tuesday for the first time since demanding a trade, telling reporters that concerns for his family motivated his decision to leave the Jets after 11 seasons.
“With all the uncertainty I was experiencing, there [were] some moments and some things that happened to my family that, for me, crossed the line,” he said. “And as a husband and a father, I felt made that decision very certain that I needed to be a good husband, a good father, and do what’s best for my family and my career.”
Hellebuyck went public with his trade request in late August before opting to sit out of training camp, beginning a weeks-long saga that saw Winnipeg suspend him without pay. The Jets eventually dealt Hellebuyck to New Jersey on October 23, and Tuesday was set to be Hellebuyck’s first game back in Winnipeg until the Devils announced he would not play.
When asked, Hellebuyck declined to specify the exact nature of what happened to his family, though he noted that career uncertainty also contributed to his decision.
“I don’t want to try to ruin the relationship I have with the city, because I’m not going to judge a few moments, or I’m not going to project a few moments on the entire city. I’ve been very connected with this community, and I’ve loved my time here,” he said. “There are a few moments that I don’t want to see happen again, and it is more than just online death threats. And I’m please going to ask you to respect my privacy and my family’s privacy. I won’t go deeper than that…On top of some uncertainty with my career, I felt that a change in scenery was what was best.”
He later added, “There comes a time in your life where you have to choose to be a husband and a father first and then do what’s best for your career.”
Hellebuyck also deferred when asked if he had evidence his family’s harassment was coming from within Winnipeg itself.
“I feel like the media will probably eat me alive regardless of what I say,” he said. “So I feel like if I answer that question, it’s pinning someone against each other. And I don’t want this to be about that. I’ve made my decision. I’ve made it clear. And I’ve sacrificed a lot to live by that decision.”
After winning Olympic gold with Team USA this winter, Hellebuyck’s subsequent appearances with US president Donald Trump — including appearing alongside him at the State of the Union address — further inflamed tensions given Trump’s hostility towards Canada and its government. Hellebuyck denied that those appearances constituted him getting involved in politics, though he acknowledged they put something of a target on his back.
“I’m sure it did a little bit,” he said. “Is it fair? I don’t think it matters if it’s fair or not. Those are accomplishments that I will never apologize for, and I will never speak negatively about. I know the sensitivity of what’s going on between the US and Canada, and I’ve never gotten into politics deep with anyone because I’m a hockey player, and I play hockey, and I can only speak to the things that I do every day.”
The desire for familial privacy also apparently led Hellebuyck not to share evidence of threats with the Jets, who he acknowledges “would do whatever it took to help” in that situation.
“My family is a very private family, and we handle our business very privately,” he said. “And I know from the outside looking in, you can say, ‘Oh, you did this wrong, you did that wrong.’ And maybe we did. We’re human. We might make mistakes along the way, but the way we handled it is the way that we wanted to handle it and how we’re going to continue to handle it with privacy.”
By the time that he made his trade request public, Hellebuyck also faced the prospect of playing on a rebuilding Jets franchise with five years left on his contract. Winnipeg missed the playoffs this spring for just the second time since 2017-18, ending the season eight points out of a playoff spot with a 35-35-12 record. Hellebuyck was forthright about his disappointment with the season in his breakdown day interview in April.
“To take the step back that we did this year felt very wrong,” he said then. “From the President’s Trophy to this just felt like it should never happen, and it did…Complacency is not going to get us moving forward, so something’s got to happen.”
Hellebuyck may have cited concerns for his family’s safety on Tuesday as the reason for his trade request, but that didn’t mean the Jets’ on-ice performance was totally irrelevant.
“Some of that is a part of the puzzle,” he said. “And when I spoke [after last season] I was very emotional. It’s coming off of a season where we missed playoffs, where I really didn’t expect that to ever happen in that contract length.”
Though Hellebuyck repeatedly thanked Winnipeg and the Jets for his time there, he’s faced backlash from both the team and its fans for his exit. Head coach Scott Arniel said Monday that Hellebuyck “gave up on us,” a comment that Hellebuyck acknowledged “hurts” to hear. He knows plenty of fans already have their minds made up on him as a consequence of his decision, but he stands behind his choices nonetheless.
“I’m not going to tell anyone how they should feel, how their emotions should play,” he said. “To each their own. To the people that feel that I’ve been disloyal, well, there’s also a lot that I was not expecting to happen, go on throughout this contract. And the day that I said I was a Jet for life, I meant it. But I also didn’t foresee the future that was going to happen.”
