Jets goalie emerges as dark-horse MVP candidate

While Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon is still the overwhelming favorite on FanDuel to win the Hart Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player, Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck's play over the last month has turned him into a dark-horse candidate. 

Hellebuyck dominated opponents in January with a 1.78 GAA and .940 save percentage as the Jets surged into third place in the Western Conference's Central Division. Hellebuyck is in the top five in the NHL in almost every major statistical category for goaltenders headed into Saturday's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

Were Hellebuyck to win the Hart Trophy, it would make him the first American-born goaltender to ever win NHL MVP.  The Michigan native won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goaltender in 2020 and signed a seven-year contract extension for $59.5 million with the Jets in October 2023. He's also a four-time NHL All-Star. 

The Athletic recently named Hellebuyck the Winnipeg Jets MVP for the first half of the season. 

"Hellebuyck isn't just the best player at his position on his team," wrote Murat Ates, who covers the Jets for The Athletic. "He may be the best goaltender in the world this season." 

Having a goaltender win the Hart Trophy is incredibly rare. Only seven goaltenders have ever been named MVP and only two have won in the last 27 years, with Montreal's Carey Price being the last in 2015. 

Only one goaltender in NHL history has won the Hart Trophy twice — Buffalo's Dominik Hasek, who took down back-to-back MVP honors in 1997 and 1998.