Connor Hellebuyck signs six-year extension worth $37 million

By @MichaelCaples –

From being passed over in all junior league drafts to signing a $37 million dollar extension with the Winnipeg Jets.

Connor Hellebuyck’s remarkable story continues.

The Commerce native signed a six-year extension with the Jets on Thursday, good for $37 million in total. That’s a yearly cap-hit for Winnipeg of more than $6 million, showing how much they value Hellebuyck’s presence between the pipes.

Hellebuyck, 25, posted a 44-11-9 record, a .924 save percentage and 2.36 goals against average this past season, en route to a Vezina Trophy nomination – the first of his young career.

A Walled Lake Northern alum, Hellebuyck had to earn a spot with the NAHL’s Odessa Jackalopes at the team’s training camp back in 2011; he did so well in Texas that he earned a roster spot at UMass-Lowell and Winnipeg selected him in the fifth round of the 2012 NHL Draft.

From there, it was a Mike Richter Award for the best goaltender in college hockey and two years in the minors before full-time status with Canada’s newest NHL franchise.

With that impressive 2017-18 season mentioned above, Hellebuyck was in for a big pay day, and the high school hockey alum certainly got that with his new contract.