The Winnipeg Jets have re-signed goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and centre Mark Scheifele to identical seven-year contact extensions worth $8.5 million per year.
Hellebuyck and Scheifele Stay Against All Odds
These deals are no less than blockbusters, and unexpected ones at that. Both players were unrestricted free agents (UFAs) next summer and were two of the biggest pieces of trade bait throughout the offseason.
However, neither ended up being trade. Now, both will be Jets through the 2030-31 season, with their new contracts kicking in in 2024-25.
Scheifele, the Jets’ first-ever draft pick (seventh overall, 2011) has recorded 645-career points (272 goals, 373 assists) in in 723 games over 12 seasons. He also has 32 points (19 goals, 13 assists) in 27-career playoff games. While his play without the puck has left something to be desired at times over the past few seasons, he is a reliable point-per-game producer, having accomplished the feat in six of his past seven seasons.
Related: Jets 2022-23 Report Cards: Mark Scheifele
Last season, the 30-year-old scored a career-high 38 goals and added 26 assists for 68 points. He has served as an alternate captain since 2016-17.
Hellebuyck, chosen in the fifth-round in 2012, has blossomed into one of the NHL’s elite goaltenders. The 2020 Vezina winner, in 445 games played and 436 starts over eight seasons, has a 238-154-37 record, 2.66 Goals Against Average, .920 Save Percentage, and 32 shutouts. He has a 17-23 record with a 2.58 GAA, .916 SV%, and three shutouts in 40 playoff games.
Last season, the 30-year-old posted a 37-25-2 record, 2.49 GAA, .920 SV%, and four shutouts in 64 starts.
The pair of Canadian Thanksgiving Monday signings, after all the trade speculation over the past number of months, come as a shock to many. Hellebuyck has often said winning a Stanley Cup is the most important thing to him, and the Jets — with just three playoff series wins since relocating from Atlanta — seemed to have been heading further away from that goal in recent seasons. Scheifele has also openly mused about his future with the team in the past.
Jets Stay in Win-Now Mode
By retaining Hellebuyck and Scheifele through the rest of their primes, Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has sent a clear message he intends his team to be competitive for the foreseeable future. Trading either (or both) would have left massive holes.
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The Jets started last season strong under new head coach Rick Bowness and sat at the top of the Western Conference in January before falling off badly in the second half. They squeaked into the playoffs in the second-wild card spot and were quickly dispatched by the eventual Stanley Cup-winning Vegas Golden Knights in the first round.
A full rebuild looked to be on the horizon, but Cheveldayoff re-tooled instead. He traded Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Los Angeles Kings for NHL-calibre players in Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari, and Gabriel Vilardi, and also bought out former captain Blake Wheeler.
Related: Winnipeg Jets 2023 Offseason Overview
The Jets begin the 2023-24 season Wednesday on the road with the Calgary Flames.