AS I SEE IT COLUMN: Comparing Montréal’s Jakub Dobeš to Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck

One of the great things about sport is the way it lends itself to all kinds of hypothetical or theoretical debates. Who is the better goal scorer/golfer/quarterback/pitcher/goalie are fun, abstract diversions.

So let’s partake in one now. Who is the better goaltender? Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets or Jakub Dobeš of the Montréal Canadiens.

What makes this debate so much fun is the fact that both sides have strong arguments in their favour.

The “Connor Hellebuyck is better” argument – On one hand, this is a very easy argument to make. Hellebuyck has won two Vezina trophies as the best regular season goalie in the NHL, he won last year’s Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP and he led Team USA to Olympic gold. And he was the main reason why the Jets won the Jennings Trophy two years in a row as the team that allowed the fewest regular-season goals.

Many in the legacy media in Winnipeg are fond of referring to Hellebuyck as “the best goalie in the world,” and if the debate never includes the playoffs, most experts in the hockey world would agree. Hellebuyck has been the best regular-season goalie for a few years now.

But if you widen the debate parameters to include the NHL’s postseason, that label instantly evaporates into thin air. For reasons that his fans, his coaches, his agent, his family and I’m sure he himself would like to understand, when the games really matter, Hellebuyck’s calibre of play in the playoffs isn’t anywhere close to what it is in the regular season.

The “Jakub Dobeš is better” argument – If one puts the recency bias of Dobeš’ breathtaking performance in the first round of this year’s playoffs on hold and simply compares Hellebuyck’s career to Dobeš’ career, there is no comparison to be made. None. Hellebuyck is better by orders of magnitude.

But if you allow recency bias to enter the discussion and focus on one key metric, then this comparison instantly becomes much more intriguing.

Montréal’s first-round win over Tampa Bay was only the third time in NHL history where all seven games of a playoff series were decided by one goal. Simply put, Dobeš had no margin of error. He could not afford to make a single mistake.

Compare that “mistake” metric to Hellebuyck’s recent playoff performances. He can sometimes make several mistakes a game, let alone in a series. Dobeš had to be nearly flawless in every minute of all seven games.

Let’s contrast that to Hellebuyck’s performance the last time the Jets won a playoff round. When they defeated the St. Louis Blues last year, Hellebuyck was the opposite of flawless. He was pulled in all three away games. The Jets won in spite of Connor’s play, not because of it.

In the seventh and deciding game between Montréal and Tampa, the Lightning held the Habs to nine shots on goal for the entire game. Montréal didn’t register a shot on goal in the entire second period.

Dobeš was spectacular in the entire series, but particularly brilliant in game seven when the play was so lopsided. In defeating the Bolts, Dobeš accomplished something that so far Hellebuyck never has – he singlehandedly stole a playoff-deciding game that his team had no right winning.

In the very few instances where the Jets have won a playoff series, they were never massively outplayed in the deciding game the way the Habs were against Tampa.

No one in Montréal or anywhere in Canada is calling Dobeš the best goalie in the world (at least not yet), but it is both noteworthy and undeniable that the rookie achieved something that has eluded the veteran Hellebuyck – putting his team on his shoulders and stealing a game seven (and arguably the entire series) all by himself.