The numbers have started to speak for themselves.
Validating Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice’s decision to give rookie Connor Hellebuyck seven of the last eight starts, the emergency recall goalie is looking like something that’s anything but temporary.
Hellebuyck, 22, has now had 10 NHL starts while No. 1 netminder Ondrej Pavelec’s knee mends.
From those 10 starts have come seven wins, a goals-against average of 2.01 and a save percentage of .932.
Those numbers, if they are substantiated over the longer term and are not just an opening salvo fuelled by adrenaline — knowing the difference is where so many self-professed experts go off track — could mean a lot of things to the Jets, who begin a five-game road trip tonight in Glendale, Ariz.