Connor Hellebuyck looks miserable: the Canadiens are lucky to have Caufield and Hutson

Félix Forget
Connor Hellebuyck looks miserable: the Canadiens are lucky to have Caufield and Hutson
Credit: Capture d'écran/Twitter

Yesterday, Auston Matthews made headlines in Toronto. During his end-of-season press conference, he didn't seem particularly happy… and we got the impression that there's a real possibility he might want to leave the Maple Leafs.

He didn't seem like a guy who was too eager to talk about his future, let's say.

And of course, that brought the topic of American players playing in Canada back into the spotlight. We sensed that something had shifted in this regard with Matthew Tkachuk a few years ago… and Quinn Hughes followed suit this year. In Vancouver, Jim Rutherford confirmed today that he's known for a long time that Hughes wanted to leave.

But besides Rutherford, there's another guy whose comments on the matter have been making waves today. And we're talking about Connor Hellebuyck.

The Jets' goaltender, during his end-of-season press conference, was quite critical of his team's season. He felt the Jets were complacent this season and would have liked to see his bosses shake things up a bit more.

And when the goalie was asked about his future, he needed a long pause to answer. It took nearly seven seconds… all just to come up with a rather evasive response.

So let's take stock: Calgary and Vancouver have lost a key American player in recent years, Toronto and Winnipeg have franchise players who are evasive about their futures, Ottawa is banking on a captain whom many people see leaving (to go to the U.S. in a few years), and Edmonton has its own issues to deal with regarding Connor McDavid (who is Canadian, mind you).

That leaves Montreal… which can count on Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson, who seem perfectly happy in the city and have long-term contracts in hand. We know that Kent Hughes has said in the past that a player, regardless of nationality, will be happy if the team is doing well: the Habs are a great example of that right now.

Of course, we don't know what the future holds for Hellebuyck, Matthews, or Brady Tkachuk. But realistically, there's a good chance these three guys will head back to the States within the next 1–2 years.

Yes, the Habs are really, really lucky with their U.S.-born players. And if they have any doubts, they can ask any Canadian team… except maybe Edmonton.


In a nutshell

– Cool!

– I like that.

– Interesting.

– Great read on Matvei Michkov.

– What do you think of the list?

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