Connor Hellebuyck: A Rising Star Among American Goalies
When you think of the greatest goalies in NHL history, names like Martin Brodeur, Ken Dryden, Tony Esposito, Dominik Hasek, Jacques Plante, and Patrick Roy often come to mind. These legends have all won the Vezina Trophy three or more times, cementing their status as some of the best to ever play the game. Now, at 31, Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets is on the verge of joining this elite group.
Hellebuyck is having a stellar season, leading the league in goals against average (2.07) and wins (34), while ranking second in save percentage (.925). If he continues this trajectory, he could become the first goalie since Brodeur to win the Vezina in consecutive seasons. Jonathan Quick of the New York Rangers praised Hellebuyck, saying, “He’s one of the best in the world right now. One easy way to sum that up was that we played them maybe a month or two ago and we do scouting reports on every goalie we’re playing. One of the things that kept coming up is: if he sees it, he’s going to stop it.”
Hellebuyck’s name is now being mentioned alongside other great American goalies like Tom Barrasso, Ryan Miller, Mike Richter, Tim Thomas, Quick, and John Vanbiesbrouck. Some argue he should be at the top of this list, especially after his strong performances in backstopping the U.S. to two wins in the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The U.S. is set to face Sweden on Monday (8 p.m. ET, TNT), having already clinched a spot in the championship on Thursday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+).
Standing at 6-foot-4 and weighing 205 pounds, Hellebuyck is a prototype for modern goalies. If he added just 10 more pounds, he’d match the size of Joe Burrow, the quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals. His size, combined with his durability, makes him a rare find in the NHL, where most teams rely on tandems to get through a season. Hellebuyck is on track to start more than 60 games for the fourth consecutive season.
Former NHL goalie Jimmy Howard described Hellebuyck as “a bit of an anomaly compared to the rest of the league now,” highlighting his consistency and efficient style. “He’s very quiet in the net. He’s really good at controlling rebounds and putting pucks in spots. You don’t really see him getting spread out and flying around on the net. He’s very efficient in his movement,” Howard said.
- Since his NHL debut in the 2015-16 season, no goalie has played or started more games than Hellebuyck.
- He has played more minutes, faced more shots, made more saves, and had more shutouts than any other goalie since his rookie season.
- He ranks sixth in save percentage and sixth in overtime wins during this period.
- Since the 2022-23 season, his goals saved above expected is 72.51, the best mark in the NHL, with Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders trailing in second with 51.44.
ESPN reached out to some of the all-time American greats — Thomas, Miller, Quick, Richter, and Howard — to discuss Hellebuyck’s place in the hierarchy of American goalies. Hellebuyck himself expressed his excitement about being part of this conversation, saying, “It’s definitely something I’ve always strived to be, but it is a little crazy hearing it because I am only 31. I’m only halfway through my career. It’s exciting that things are trending the way I’ve always wanted them to be. It’s an honor to even be trying to answer a question like this, to be honest with you.”
Hellebuyck’s Impressive Career Stats
In his 10 seasons in the NHL, Hellebuyck’s achievements stack up well against other American-born goalies at this stage of their careers:
- He’s third in career shutouts among American goalies, just two away from passing Miller for second place.
- He’s tied for fourth in career save percentage among U.S. goalies with more than 100 career games (.917).
- He’s sixth in career wins with 309, just 11 wins away from surpassing Craig Anderson for fifth all-time, which could happen this season.
- He’s tied for seventh in goals-against average among U.S. goalies with more than 100 games, at 2.58.
- Hellebuyck passed Howard earlier this season to move into eighth in most games played (548).
Richter commented on Hellebuyck’s impact, saying, “He keeps putting up these 30-win seasons, and now Winnipeg looks like one of the more powerful teams in the league. That’s part of the package. That’s going to help you get wins, but by no means has this guy been sitting back. He’s been playing great hockey, and he’s a hard goalie to score against consistently.”
Another statistic that highlights Hellebuyck’s place among all-time great American goalies is his standing in the Vezina conversation. The Vezina Trophy has historically been dominated by Canadian goalies, who have won it 80 times. The U.S. is tied for the second-most Vezina wins by a nation with Czechia, thanks to Hasek’s six wins between 1993 and 2001.
American-born goalies have won the Vezina 10 times, with Hellebuyck, Thomas, and Frank Brimsek each winning it twice. Hellebuyck could break this tie and become the only American to win the award three times.
Thomas recalled his first encounter with Hellebuyck, saying, “The last world championships I played in [in 2014], we had Connor Hellebuyck on our team and I hadn’t heard of him before. He was playing in college and I wasn’t paying attention to college when I was in the NHL. … Watching him over the course of that World Championships, I realized how much potential he had and was super impressed. He was doing great even then.”
The Evolution of American Goalies
The U.S. has produced high-level goaltenders before, but Hellebuyck is seen as a prototypical goalie. This becomes evident when Howard, Miller, Quick, and Thomas discuss their most influential American goalies and how that has evolved over time.
Thomas, born in 1974, grew up watching the game when there were not many American goalies. He was 10 when Barrasso won the Vezina and the Calder Trophy in the 1983-84 season. Despite Barrasso’s success, only nine of the 70 goalies in the league that season were American, and seven of them won fewer than 10 games.
Miller, born in 1980, saw 11 American goalies in the NHL by the time he was 10. During the 1990-91 season, Barrasso played a key role in the Pittsburgh Penguins winning the Stanley Cup.
Both Thomas and Miller emphasized the importance of seeing American goalies play at the Olympics, which provided them with a platform in a sport largely dominated by Canadians. Thomas was influenced by Jim Craig’s performances with the 1980 Miracle on Ice team, while he and Miller were fans of Ray LeBlanc, who started for Team USA at the 1992 Olympics.
Craig played only 30 NHL games, while LeBlanc was a career minor-leaguer who played one NHL game. “You just kind of look for guys who were doing what you were doing,” Miller said. “That’s something I try to keep in mind when people talk about how representation matters in certain areas of sports or life or business. Not that I’m in the minority. But when No. 1, you’re American and No. 2, you’re a goalie? You’re looking for some commonalities.”
Howard and Quick, born two years apart, are part of a group that started seeing a shift. Howard was 10 when the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994 behind Richter. NHL players also participated in the Olympics in 1998.
That’s around the same time USA Hockey began the United States National Team Development Program in 1996. The NTDP would play a foundational role in developing future NHL goalies such as Howard, Jack Campbell, Rick DiPietro, Thatcher Demko, and Jake Oettinger.
“I remember going to Colorado Springs as a 14-, 15-year-old and going toe-to-toe with your peers and just learning from different goalie coaches from all different levels throughout the United States,” Howard said. “They’ve really put an emphasis on how being in the U.S., we’ve always had top forwards and top D, but it was goalies where we lacked. So USA Hockey really took an emphasis on developing more, so goalies aren’t just shooter tutors when it comes to practices.”
College hockey also began to further establish itself as a more prominent developmental path. Americans including Jon Casey, Damian Rhodes, Chris Terreri, and Richter played collegiately in the 1980s and went on to the NHL. Then came goalies such as Jim Carey, Mike Dunham, Garth Snow, and Thomas who played throughout the 1990s and would make it to the NHL. It continued into the early 2000s with young Americans like Miller and Al Montoya.
Young hockey players had seen two Olympic cycles with NHL players. The U.S. went from a medal-less finish in 1998 to winning silver in 2002. It was around that time when college hockey saw more young American goalies, such as Howard and Quick, become some of the best in the nation.
Howard left the University of Maine in 2005 and signed with the Detroit Red Wings before becoming a full-time NHL goaltender in the 2009-10 season. Quick left the University of Massachusetts after two years, signed with the Los Angeles Kings organization in 2007, and became a full-time NHL goalie in the 2008-09 season.
The 2009-10 campaign saw 12 American-born goalies play in the NHL. Five of them finished in the top 11 in games played.
Seeing the impact Richter had with the Rangers and how that continued with more Americans such as Miller and Howard was something that resonated with a young hockey fan who grew up in Commerce Township, Michigan.
That fan was Connor Hellebuyck.
“There were a couple guys I grew up loving, but the ones who come to mind are Mike Richter, Ryan Miller, and Jimmy Howard,” Hellebuyck said. “I know there are others I’m missing, but those three guys are ones I always look forward to talking to and I’ve gotten to know all three. I know Richter comes from a different era, but he was just the nicest guy ever.”
The Debate: Greatest American Goalie?
The question of who holds the title of greatest American-born goalie isn’t entirely clear. Everyone ESPN spoke to included Quick and Richter on their lists. Both acknowledged why it’s such a challenging debate.
“It’s difficult to compare in my opinion,” Quick said. “I just appreciate guys for what they did, what they brought to the league, to their teams and I know people like comparing numbers. I’ve never been a fan of comparing the numbers. I don’t think that ever tells the whole story.”
Richter said what makes it a difficult question to answer is the team in front of the goalie will influence the numbers — and that eras influence them as well. But he said stats are one way to be at least somewhat objective.
He used Barrasso and Quick as examples. Richter said Barrasso was “supremely talented” but was playing in an era that was far more prolific for offense, which is why he finished with a career 3.24 GAA, a number that would rank 70th among active NHL goalies.
Richter also raved about Quick. He said Quick, the nation’s all-time leader in several statistics, has had “an exceptional career in every category” while noting he’s the only American goalie to win more than 400 games while having a 2.49 GAA, which reflects how he’s had consistency and longevity.
Barrasso and Quick each won multiple Stanley Cups.
“When you are looking at who are the best players, it’s longevity, it’s championships and it’s what they meant to their team,” Richter said. “It’s a team game, and some are called on more than others but that doesn’t mean it’s always easier.”
That’s when the conversation shifts to Hellebuyck and whether he needs a Stanley Cup to ascend to the top spot.
Five of the American goalies who are in the top 10 in all-time wins have Stanley Cups. Three of them are in the Hockey Hall of Fame — and Quick is likely to get there — with Chico Resch being the lone exclusion. The five who didn’t win a Stanley Cup — Anderson, Hellebuyck, Howard, Miller, and Vanbiesbrouck — are not in the Hall of Fame.
Of those players in the top 10 in wins, five have won the Vezina. The only two to win the Vezina and a Stanley Cup are Barrasso and Frank Brimsek, who played from 1938-39 through 1949-50.
“I really have to emphasize that this is so inexact, because Marcel Dionne was a great player but he never won a Stanley Cup,” said Richter. “You can’t fault him for that necessarily. He’s a Hall of Fame player. Championships are won and lost as a team. I don’t think it’s fair to determine if you’re not mentioned in the breath with the best if you haven’t won a championship in a team game.”
Quick said: “Goaltending is a very dependent position on the guys in front of you and the coaching staff. It’s the work that they put in that goes a long way in the goalie having success or not.”
Thomas, who won two Vezinas and a Stanley Cup, said that Hellebuyck just needs to keep doing what he’s doing.
“Based on what he’s accomplished and what he’s headed toward accomplishing, I wouldn’t say that he has to win a Stanley Cup to be in that conversation,” Thomas said. “But I would say trying to identify one person who is the greatest American goalie of all time is really hard to do because there are different circumstances for everyone.”
Miller said Hellebuyck and the Jets have what might be one of his strongest chances to win that elusive title this season. The Jets entered the 4 Nations Face-Off with the most points in the NHL. They were nine points clear of the Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers, and Vegas Golden Knights.
But that comes with the context that the Jets might need to win the Cup now, considering they have several players — including Nikolaj Ehlers, Alex Iafallo, Mason Appleton, Vladislav Namestnikov, Neal Pionk, and Haydn Fleury — who are pending unrestricted free agents.
“All this makes me think of Roberto Luongo. He was in a Game 7 and was one win away from winning a Cup, and he still doesn’t have one [as a player],” Hellebuyck said. “But in my eyes, I still view him as one of the greatest of all time. There’s a lot of things you can do to still feel like you’ve achieved a lot.
“That being said, I think most hockey players play the game to win a Cup. … I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary on a resume. But it definitely helps.”
Originally Written by: Ryan S. Clark
