Bold three-team trade sends Connor Hellebuyck to Carolina and shakes up Montreal, Winnipeg in latest pitch

A wild three-team trade proposal is making the rounds on social media and it would completely reshape the goaltending situations in Winnipeg and Carolina while adding a physical young defenseman in Montreal.

The concept, floated by a fan account on X, imagines the Winnipeg Jets sending Connor Hellebuyck to the Carolina Hurricanes, with the Hurricanes flipping blue line prospect Alexander Nikishin to the Montreal Canadiens as the centerpiece heading back the other way.

Under the proposal, Montreal would send defenseman Kaiden Guhle, goaltender Samuel Montembeault and a 2027 first round pick to Winnipeg to help get the deal done.

That would leave the Jets with a new number one option in net while adding an extra first rounder and a young defender still on his entry level contract.

Carolina would land a proven franchise goaltender without touching much of its young core, since Nikishin is the piece heading to Montreal.

For the Canadiens, adding Nikishin would give the front office another mobile, physical defenseman to pair alongside the current young core as the rebuild keeps rolling.

It would mean parting with Montembeault, who has handled the bulk of the starts in net, and Guhle, a homegrown piece who has grown into a top four role over the past two seasons.

Nothing here comes from a beat writer or league insider, this is strictly a fan built framework circulating on social media.

Still, it touches on real names in real situations worth tracking as training camp opens, since goaltending questions in Winnipeg and Montreal's ongoing defensive retool are both legitimate storylines.

Whether any version of this ever gets discussed inside an actual front office is unknown, but proposals like this one tend to get people talking anyway.

Also read on House Of Hockey :
Nikita Zadorov fires back at fans still blaming JT Miller for Elias Pettersson rift with new details