By profitable the MVP, he turns into simply the eighth totally different goalie to ever win the award, becoming a member of a listing that features solely Roy Worters, Chuck Rayner, Al Rollins, Jacques Plante, Dominik Hasek (who gained it twice), Jose Theodore and Carey Value.
He’s the primary goalie to win it since Value did so in the course of the 2014-15 season and solely the fourth goalie to win it because the league expanded past six groups in 1967 (Hasek, Theodore and Value are the opposite three).
The one draw back to all of those honors for Hellebuyck is that he’s nonetheless going to face criticism for one more disappointing playoff exhibiting that resulted in him getting benched 3 times within the first spherical, earlier than settling in and enjoying higher within the second spherical. Whereas his general numbers, together with his save proportion and goals-against common, have been among the many finest within the common season over the previous three seasons, his playoff numbers have taken a big drop over that very same time interval. It is an issue that each he and the Jets have to unravel if they will turn out to be a severe Stanley Cup contender.
Truthful or not, elite gamers are finally judged by what they do within the playoffs, and in immediately’s “ring tradition,” regular-season efficiency does not all the time get the identical respect it ought to if there may be not a championship in that trophy case to validate all of it.
However even with that being the case, Hellebuyck’s regular-season efficiency is without doubt one of the single largest causes the Jets have gained as many video games as they’ve over the previous three years — and one of many largest the reason why they completed this season with the perfect document within the NHL. Whereas the Jets have an excellent roster, it was additionally a flawed roster that at instances might be depending on Hellebuyck to win them video games.
They don’t have the season they did with out him.
He completed with a .925 save proportion, a league-best 2.00 goals-against common and a league-leading eight shutouts.
Nice goalies can flip unhealthy groups into playoff groups, playoff groups into contenders, and contenders into championship-caliber groups.
Unhealthy goalies do the precise reverse.
That form of impression is why they need to win the MVP extra usually than they do, particularly if the award really is predicated on the concept of “worth.”
The voters received it proper on this case with Hellebuyck. No one did extra to raise their crew within the common season than he did.
