I don't do a lot of NHL content in this space, even though I bet it often, because it's still fairly low on the national totem pole in terms of attention when football is in season. But I'm irked at the New Jersey Devils for ruining what would have been the most "villainous" homecoming by any player this NHL season when Connor Hellebuyck returns to Winnipeg on Tuesday. Bet $5+ on any of tonight's NHL games to get $200 in bonus bets at DraftKings Sportsbook:

Even with the three-time Vezina Trophy winner not playing, Jets fans will be out for blood, and I think we can find some good betting value in the game because of it. It's a 7 ET puck drop and will be streaming on ESPN+. At +124 via DraftKings, the Jets are taking 86% of money and nearly half of tickets. Decent lean to Under 6.5.

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Devils vs. Jets NHL same-game parlay

  • Winnipeg +1.5
  • Both to score 2+ goals

FanDuel SGP price: +101  (subject to change)

The relationship between the Jets and their best-ever player in Hellebuyck, who was also the primary goalie for gold medal-winning Team USA in the Winter Olympics, had been strained for a while. Then it broke over the summer when he publicly demanded a trade and stayed away from the club until he got it. Hellebuyck is in the third year of a seven-year contract extension with an $8.5 million average annual value and said it was about family and not money.

The 2024-25 Hart Trophy winner preferred Florida, but the sides couldn't agree on that deal. On Oct. 23 the Jets sent him to New Jersey for Dawson Mercer, Alexander Command, Nick Bjugstad, goalie Nico Daws, a 2029 second-round pick and a 2027 seventh-round pick. That date was important, as it was the day Hellebuyck's suspension by Winnipeg was set to end and he was expected to report. He waived his no-movement clause to facilitate the trade.

Things might have gotten ugly without a deal, but Hellebuyck became simply the latest prominent American NHL player to push for a move from a Canadian club, following the likes of Brady Tkachuk and Quinn Hughes.

Hellebuyck is reviled now in Winnipeg, so it's a massive shame the Devils will let him rest tonight, and boy is the team getting ripped for the decision – it almost makes this a bigger deal now. It certainly wasn't Hellebuyck's decision to sit, as GM Sunny Mehta announced the following after Hellebuyck pitched a shutout Sunday in Toronto.

"Connor Hellebuyck was adamant that he felt a duty to play on Tuesday in Winnipeg," Mehta wrote in a statement. "However, in our estimation, playing in this game would potentially give us a reduction in our expected win probability." 

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Hellebuyck said he is "disappointed … but when you're looking at what's best for the team, I understand where they're coming from." Sitting a future Hall of Famer and Olympic gold medalist in his prime who is 5-0-0 with a 1.96 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage since joining the Devils lowers your team's expected win probability? Yeah, OK.

This likely was because of the bitter reactions Tkachuk got in Ottawa and Hughes did in Vancouver in their returns this season. Jets coach Scott Arniel had a wonderful reaction Monday: "I've seen a lot of analytics in my life. I'm not sure how this works into the analytics part of it. I know it's their decision. They can do whatever they want. But that would put closure to it. This doesn't."

The Jets visit New Jersey on Nov. 28. It presumably will be veteran Jake Allen (6-3-0, 3.20 GAA) in net tonight for the Devils, who have won five in a row. The lone Allen start in that run was Saturday at the Islanders, and he allowed four goals but his offensive bailed him out.

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Winnipeg is pretty bad and hasn't gotten much from the trade yet. Bjugstad is on long-term injured reserve, Mercer has four points in eight games and Daws has gotten into only two games as the third-string goalie. He is 0-1 with a 3.11 GAA but it sounds like he might start tonight. The Jets have followed a nine-game skid with three straight wins – all with Stuart Skinner as the backstop. 

That building will be fired up tonight, and Winnipeg has been competitive on home ice at 4-4-1. It's almost as if the Devils are saying, yeah, we are semi-punting this one and worried more about Thursday's one-game homestand vs. Washington. In addition, forward Anthony Mantha is out with an upper-body injury suffered Saturday. He's tied for sixth on the team with 10 points.

Winnipeg is expected to see the return of top blue-liner Josh Morrissey (three assists) from injury. He has been out since Oct. 7. The model has Devils 3.1-3.0, which works fine for these purposes. But I want Winnipeg to win outright now because of this Devils nonsense about "analytics." Check out other expert picks in the SportsLine daily newsletter.