Remember when the New York Rangers were mocked by the hockey world after owner James Dolan's letter that bashed the league after Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson's dirty play that injured Artemi Panarin back in 2021? It may have taken a while, but there is a new winner for most embarrassing decision and letter written by a Metropolitan Division team. That team is the New Jersey Devils.
On Sunday night, after the Devils' 4-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, general manager Sunny Mehta released a statement, revealing that goalie Connor Hellebuyck would not be starting their next game on Tuesday against the Winnipeg Jets. This would be Hellebuyck's first game back in Winnipeg after he publicly requested a trade at the start of training camp. The Devils' reasoning for the decision? They felt that starting Hellebuyck "would potentially give [the Devils] a reduction in [their] expected win probability."
Devils cite 'expected win probability' as reason to bench Connor Hellebuyck for Winnipeg return
Mehta wasn't the only one to comment on the decision. Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe says they decided to rest Hellebuyck for their next game because of his workload. Keefe said that if Hellebuyck played on Tuesday, it would have been his fourth start in eight days.
"From our perspective, when you zoom out, this is a goaltender that is not going to play every single game of the season. You’re always looking for times to give him a night off," said Keefe, h/t The Athletic's Chris Johnston.
Based on Hellebuyck's postgame comments on Sunday, Keefe's and Mehta's collective decision is one that he didn't agree with. Hellebuyck said that he was "disappointed" about the decision but he understood where the team was coming from. Still, he said he would have liked to play in Winnipeg for the first time since his trade.
“I love Winnipeg,” Hellebuyck said, h/t The Athletic. “Playing there again and just facing the music and seeing the reaction, it’d be nice. It’s out of my hands.”
As a way to "appease" those frustrated by the decision, the Devils are allowing Hellebuyck to hold a press conference before the game. That should go over swimmingly and not increase the talk of the team and player "running away" from the criticism.
Rangers and rest of NHL have reason to criticize Devils over Connor Hellebuyck decision
There have been plenty of blockbuster trades to take place in the span of a calendar year. Yet, we've seen said players involved play in their return games against their former teams. However you feel about Brady Tkachuk, he faced the music in his return to Ottawa to play the Senators. Quinn Hughes played in his return to Vancouver to play the Canucks, the team he began his career with before getting dealt to the Minnesota Wild last December.
Yet for the Devils, they are avoiding the situation altogether. Its understandable that they want to give their goalie a rest, but announcing the decision two days before their next game felt as though they wanted to get ahead of the impending wave of criticism.
While they bring up the "reduction in win probability" reasoning, let's not forget that the Rangers have been dealing with a goaltending depth issue that forced Dylan Garand to play in 12 consecutive games. That was until this past Saturday, when Joonas Korpisalo finally made his debut for the Rangers after recovering from a foot infection. The Rangers had no choice but to do so. But for the Devils, they opted instead to avoid playing Hellebuyck every other day through an eight day stretch.
The Devils may have thought they were going to avoid the drama of Hellebuyck getting booed in his return to Winnipeg. Instead, they are being trolled and criticized left and right on Monday.
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