Latest:

MiHockey

Your Hockey – Our Hockey – MiHockey

Kyle Connor celebrates his first NCAA goal. (Photo by Michael Caples/MiHockey)
College Editor's picks For Coaches For Fans For Parents For Players Pro Slideshow The Latest University of Michigan Wolverines 

Kyle Connor, Connor Hellebuyck on the Winnipeg Jets’ opening-night roster

MiHockey Staff
Kyle Connor celebrates his first NCAA goal. (Photo by Michael Caples/MiHockey)
Kyle Connor celebrates his first NCAA goal. (Photo by Michael Caples/MiHockey)

 

By @StefanKubus –

A pair of promising Michigan natives have cracked the Winnipeg Jets’ opening-night roster.

It was announced Monday that Shelby Township native Kyle Connor and Commerce native Connor Hellebuyck have secured spots on the team to start the season.

For Connor, it’s a similar story to Waterford native Dylan Larkin in Detroit.

Connor, 19, was selected 17th overall in 2015. In his freshman season last year, Connor led the entire nation in scoring, amassing 35 goals and 71 points – the most points by a freshman (tied with Jack Eichel) since Paul Kariya in 1992-93 – in just 38 games. By comparison, Larkin posted 47 points in 35 games in his lone freshman season with the Wolverines, and Eichel – who won the Hobey Baker Award in 2014-15 – also recorded 71 points as a freshman with Boston University. Connor’s numbers were good enough to make him a Hobey Baker Award finalist and likely should’ve made him a lock to win.

Meanwhile, the 23-year-old Hellebuyck beat out veteran Ondrej Pavelec to earn a spot, as Pavelec was placed on waivers Monday afternoon. Hellebuyck’s body of work from the 2015-16 campaign undoubtedly had something to do with the decision. When the injury bug struck and Hellebuyck was called up, he made the most of his opportunity, as he went 13-11, but posted a .918 save percentage and 2.34 goals-against average.

Hellebuyck tended goal for Walled Lake Northern High School before making the jump to junior hockey. In 2014, he won the Mike Richter Award as the top goaltender in college hockey after a season that saw him post a 18-9-2 record and sparkling 1.79 goals-against average and .941 save percentage.

In a corresponding move, the Jets also announced that former Wolverines captain and Ann Arbor native Andrew Copp was re-assigned to the AHL after spending all of 2015-16 in Winnipeg.