Former RCMP assistant commissioner issues warning to NHL teams after Connor Hellebuyck trade request

Connor Hellebuyck's very public trade request from the Winnipeg Jets is stirring up more than just fan debate this week, and now a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police assistant commissioner is weighing in with a warning for the entire league.

Dale Sheehan took to X on Thursday and argued that if NHL teams keep letting players force their way out through public pressure, franchises might as well stop signing long term deals altogether.

Sheehan's comments landed just days after Hellebuyck confirmed through his agent Ray Petkau that he had privately asked out of Winnipeg months earlier and was now going public after growing frustrated with the lack of movement.

The three time Vezina Trophy winner still has five years left on the seven year, $59.5 million contract he signed back in October of 2023, and he owns a full no movement clause that gives him total control over where he ends up.

It doesn't help that Hellebuyck is coming off a rough season by his standards.

He posted a 2.86 goals against average and a .895 save percentage across 57 games, and the Jets finished 35-35-12 and missed the playoffs entirely.

That kind of drop off makes the situation even messier for a Winnipeg front office that now has to balance respecting a franchise goaltender's wishes with protecting the return they get in a trade.

Sheehan's larger point is about precedent.

If a star with term left on his deal can simply demand a trade and get it, he believes it changes the entire economics of the sport and hands players leverage that contracts were never meant to give them.

Kevin Cheveldayoff now has to decide how much of that pressure he's willing to absorb before making a move that will shape the rest of this Jets season.

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