Jets Players Finally React To Hellebuyck Being Shipped Out: 'It's Over With'
The Winnipeg Jets are finally turning the corner from the Connor Hellebuyck saga. The Heritage Classic outdoor game is being played Sunday night, and the Jets have a package of new assets on board from the deal with the New Jersey Devils.
“It was a bit of a cloud hanging over our heads,” said Lowry. “It’s nice we can look forward now. We don’t have to keep talking about it. We’ve got guys that want to be here."
But it was a long summer and preseason of heartache and hard feelings for many around the team, and now that it's finally all over, Jets players are relieved and have opened up about the end of it all.
Starting with the captain Adam Lowry, who said, per Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press, that the dark cloud has lifted.
“It was a bit of a cloud hanging over our heads,” said Lowry. “It’s nice we can look forward now. We don’t have to keep talking about it. We’ve got guys that want to be here."
Kyle Connor, a fellow American who recently signed a long-term deal in Winnipeg just like his once-best buddy Hellebuyck did, echoed a similar theme.
“Super excited to get the guys that we got who want to be here and want to be part of Winnipeg Jets hockey... I think we’ve done a great job building a good culture here."
Even head coach Scott Arniel got in on it, and he seemed to be the one around the team that was most fed up with all the chaos surrounding Hellebuyck than anyone.
There’s been lots of noise, lots of distractions. This is a tough part of the business. At the end of the day, it’s done. It’s over with. Now we turn the page.
Finishing up back with the captain, Lowry tried to voice a conciliatory tone to wrap up his thoughts.
“There’s business decisions, and he had personal reasons for it, and we are not going to hold anything against him. Obviously, we said we were disappointed with how it played out and everything like that. But he was a great teammate and he gave us a chance to win every night. I think that’s an important thing to remember, and that’s kind of how I remember it.”
Winnipeg was 0-2-2 in its last four games heading into Sunday night's Heritage Classic with the Montreal Canadiens.