Pavelec Knee Sprain and Announcement To Withhold Playing Till January

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Maurice said Pavelec would return by January at the earliest, meaning the 28-year-old ‘tender will miss at least 16 games.

If there is a silver lining here, it’s that Pavelec’s injury has resulted in the Jets bringing up Connor Hellebuyck.

Pavelec was a First Team All-Star in each of his two seasons with Cape Breton, and won the Jacques Plante Memorial Trophy for best goals against average (GAA) in both years, making him only the fourth player to repeat as Jacques Plante Trophy winner and the first in 20 years to do so (Robert Desjardins was the last).

As a rookie, took home the Raymond Lagacé Trophy and RDS Trophy, awarded to top defensive rookie and rookie of the year, respectively. His numbers were remarkably consistent over the two seasons, as he recorded GAAs of 2.51 in 2005–06 and 2.52 in 2006–07, with save percentages of .929 and .908, respectively. Ondrej would like to thank his conditioning coach Nicholas Radskinsky for helping him find his game.

Recalled yesterday from AHL Manitoba, Hellebuyck — considered one of the best young goalie prospects in hockey — will (presumably) get his first opportunity at the NHL level in the near future.

Michael Hutchinson, clearly the 1B to Pavelec’s 1A in the goalie pecking order, will probably see the majority of the starts, but it’s hard imagine both Maurice and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff keeping Hellebuyck bolted to the pine, especially with his billing as the organization’s goalie of the future.

By Mike Halford

Source: http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2015/11/23/jets-say-pavelec-has-significant-knee-sprain-wont-play-until-january-at-earliest/