A potential massive year lies ahead for Connor Hellebuyck with the Winnipeg Jets shaping up as Stanley Cup contender once again and Team USA eyeing their first Olympic gold with NHL players in February.

Hellebuyck won his first Hart Trophy and his third Vezina Trophy last season while leading the Jets to their first Presidents’ Trophy before a second-round exit. He also served as the United States starter at the 4 Nations Face-Off as the team lost to Canada in overtime of the tournament final. 

While it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of what lies ahead, the 32-year-old netminder is keeping a level head as the new year dawns.  

“For me I’m kind of going into it as just another season, just another season,” Hellebuyck told NHL.com. “We’re continuing to build, but I don’t want to bring expectations into it. I think expectations kill. I’ve seen it enough. We’re a good team but sometimes you don’t win when you expect to win, and you win when you don’t expect to win. Really just trying to keep all expectations off the table and go in with a fresh slate.

“We’re going to build our game the way we ended last year, put our best foot forward and let everything fall into place.”

Hellebuyck posted a 47-12-3 record last season with a .925 save percentage and a 2.00 goals-against average, setting new career highs in wins, save percentage and GAA. 

It marked the fourth straight season he appeared in at least 60 games and the sixth time in his 10-year career he has done so. The Commerce, Mich. native is happy to buck the current trend of seeing NHL starters owning a closer split with their backups.

“Yeah, the trend is the split, but I think that is like a [political] movement in that someone got lucky and made it work and now everyone else thinks, ‘Oh, that’s the right way to do it.’ I don’t agree with that,” Hellebuyck explained. “I think the best way to bring out the best part of yourself is to play and get into a rhythm. For me, I would like to go back to the days of 70-plus games. I think you can stay in a rhythm and once you’re confident you can just ride it and you don’t really have to think a whole lot, you’re just playing because you’re feeling it every single night.

“The caveat that goes with that is the management. The problem with [goalies playing more games] is because the demand on the goalie with practices and stress levels are so high because teams don’t let the goalie and the goalie coach do their thing. That’s what we do really well in Winnipeg, we realize that our needs are separate from the whole team’s needs and they let us do what we need to do to make us best. I’ve got full control over the management side of things on that.”

The Jets will open their preseason next week as they take on the Minnesota Wild on Sept. 21, with their first game of the season set for Oct. 9 against the Dallas Stars.