Winnipeg Jets Connor Hellebuyck officially added more hardware to his trophy case on Thursday. For the third time in his career and the second straight year, he won the Vezina Trophy as the best goaltender in the National Hockey League. He also won his second straight Jennings Trophy as the primary goaltender for the team with the NHL’s lowest goals against average. Perhaps most notably, Hellebuyck captured his first Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player.
Hellebuyck joins some elite company
NHL general managers vote for the Vezina Trophy. The Winnipeg netminder received 31 of 32 first place votes. Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevsky received the only other first place vote. Hellebuyck joins very elite company as only Dominik Hasek (six), Martin Brodeur (four) and Patrick Roy (three) have won three or more Vezina Trophies in the post-1967 expansion era. All three of these goaltenders are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Prior to the 1981-82 season, the Vezina Trophy and the Jennings were one and the same thing. The primary starting goaltender with the NHL’s lowest goals against average automatically won the Vezina.
Few goalies win the Hart
Hellebuyck (1346 points) narrowly beat out Leon Draisaitl (1209 points) for the Hart Trophy. Nikita Kucherov (973 points) finished in third place for the award. Since the expansion era, Hellebuyck is just the fourth goaltender to win the Hart Trophy. Ther netminders to win the prestigious award are Dominik Hasek (twice), Jose Theodore and Carey Price. Hockey Hall of Famer Jacques Plante (1961-62) won both trophies during the “Original Six” era.
Historical note: goaltender Roy Worters (1928-29), Chuck Raynor (1949-50) and Al Rollins (1953-54) won the Hart Trophy but did not earn the Vezina Trophy because they did not have the league’s lowest GAA in those seasons.
Overall, the 2024-2025 regular season was the best yet for Hellebuyck. He led the league in wins (47) and shutouts (8). His goals against average of 2.00 led all goaltenders. His save percentage of .925 was barely second to Anthony Stolarz’ .926. To top it off, all of these 2024-25 regular season stats were career highs for Hellebuyck.
At age 32, he is still in his prime by typical goalie standards. He is signed with the Jets for another six years.
The still-elusive hardware
There is one final piece of individual hardware that Hellebuyck covets but has not yet won: the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Moreover, he wants the NHL’s ultimate team prize: the Stanley Cup. In 2024-25, the Jets won the President’s Trophy for the league’s top regular season record, but lost in the Western Conference Semifinal.
Some other Jets personnel came close to winning awards as well. Coach Scott Arniel finished second in voting for the Jack Adams Trophy, awarded to the coach of the year which was won by Spencer Carbery of the Washington Capitals. Josh Morrissey finished fourth in voting for the Norris Trophy, awarded to the best defenceman of the regular season which was won by Cale Makar.
