Jets GM Cheveldayoff Reveals How Hellebuyck Deal Finally Came Together

The deal is done. The Winnipeg Jets have finally moved on from holdout goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. The New Jersey Devils were the surprise winners of the sweepstakes, coming on strong in the final hours.

Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff met with the media to discuss the four-month process and how difficult it is to trade a starting goaltender. 

"Very comfortable with what we accomplished here. Certainly wish I could have done it four months ago." Kevin Cheveldayoff on the return the Jets got for Connor Hellebuyck. https://t.co/WSY1LcOPuX

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 23, 2026

“When you go through the process like we did and the time that we went through, we certainly looked at all the different options that were out there and talked to a lot of different teams,” Cheveldayoff said. “The goalie market is a little bit of a different market. You find out who has legitimate interest. You find out who has legitimate needs. You go through the process of what assets they have within their organization and, more importantly, what assets they are willing to move. 

“We’re very comfortable with what we accomplished here over the period of time,” Cheveldayoff said. “Certainly wish I could have done it 4-5 months ago when the opportunity first started, but here we are today.”

How did the Devils beat out the supposed favorites in Hellebuyck sweepstakes?

Of course, the teams that everyone had on the radar for Hellebuyck were the Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes and Utah Mammoth, but the Devils were the ones that swooped in and won the bidding. As for how New Jersey GM Sunny Mehta pulled this off so quickly from his end, Cheveldayoff spoke glowingly about the Devils' new front office boss.

Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff on talks with Sunny Mehta to send Connor Hellebuyck to the Devils: "When Sunny got serious, he got serious real quick. It was a real treat to deal with him, he's very straight forward. There was no beating around the bush.” #NJDevils #GoJetsGo https://t.co/CGJ4dtuEkL

— Anthony Corona (@ACoronaNJD) October 23, 2026

"When Sunny got serious, he got serious real quick. It was a real treat to deal with him; he's very straightforward. There was no beating around the bush... It was a pleasure working with him." 

Cheveldayoff also said he got a lot of sympathy calls from other GMs around the league. 

“It’s funny, ironic, I guess. A lot of the teams that had their No. 1 goalies locked in or heard from a lot of their managers said, ‘Hang in there, I feel for you, buddy.’ That was the sentiment of what you got from some of my counterparts that were sleeping easy at night, as opposed to wasting away a summer.”