Born in Commerce, Michigan, Connor Hellebuyck is an American goaltender who plays for the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League and the United States national team.
Sports career
Connor Hellebuyck’s sports career began in 2011 with the Odessa Jackalopes junior team. In 2012, he was selected 130th overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the NHL draft.
Starting in 2012, Connor played for the University of Massachusetts team. His performances were so successful that in the 2013/14 season he was named the league’s best goalkeeper.
In the spring of 2014, Hellebuyck signed a three-year contract with the Winnipeg Jets. In the 2014/15 season, he played for the St. John’s IceCaps, and thanks to his performances in the winter of 2015, he received an invitation to the AHL All-Star Game.
Connor started the following season with the Manitoba Moose, but in November 2015, he was urgently called up to the Jets due to an injury to Czech goalkeeper Ondrej Pavelec. At the end of that autumn, in a game against the Minnesota Wild, Ellby made his NHL debut, and in December he recorded his first shutout, defeating the powerful Pittsburgh Penguins.
In the 2016/17 season, Connor Hellebuyck was the Jets’ main goalkeeper.
In the summer of 2017, the player signed a one-year contract with the Canadian team from Winnipeg. The contract was worth US$2.25 million.
The 2017/18 season was a record-breaking one for Connor: he surpassed the achievements of American goalkeeper Tom Barasso (which had stood since 1992) and was nominated for the Vezina Trophy in April.
In the summer of 2018, Connor signed a new six-year contract with the Jets.
Participation in national teams
Connor has been playing for the US national team since 2014. Although he remained on the bench at the 2014 World Championship, he was named the tournament’s best goalkeeper by journalists at the 2015 World Championship.
He participated in the 2016 World Cup, playing for the North American national team.
