That decision had nothing to do with his diet though.

When Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck set out to rebuild his body and game during the past year, he decided to ditch the chicken wings.

Hellebuyck, 24, broke into the NHL two seasons ago relying more on his left elbow than his glove to make saves on high shots to the glove side, a chicken-wing save selection he mastered through countless repetitions in college and used successfully during his first three professional seasons. It didn't take long for scouts from other NHL teams to identify that tendency as a potential area to exploit in their scouting report

To counteract that, Hellebuyck changed his glove positioning.

Instead of holding his glove away from him and near his knees, he worked with Jets goaltending coach Wade Flaherty on placing it near his hip and closer to his body. That positioning reduced his reliance on flaring his elbow for high saves. It also helped the balance and biomechanics of the more efficient movement patterns he worked on throughout the offseason.

"It does take a little bit of failure to finally figure out the next level and next step, so you can't be afraid of a little failure," Hellebuyck told NHL Network on Wednesday. "The glove position actually was a big thing that [Flaherty] got on me about, and getting back to the way I always describe it as the trajectory of the puck going into the net, getting back to where the hand actually needs to be to give you the best opportunity to go up or down."

Combine that shift with other changes, all being made on the fly against the best shooters in the world, and the results were, at times, trying during his first season as a No. 1 goalie in the NHL.

He had a .907 save percentage in 56 games in 2016-17, down from .918 in 26 games as an NHL rookie in 2015-16. It was his lowest save percentage since playing tier-2 junior as an 18-year-old for Odessa in the North American Hockey League in 2011-12.

Amid criticism in Winnipeg, Hellebuyck talked after last season about trusting that the changes would yield long-term benefits.

He was right. Hellebuyck is headed to Tampa to play Sunday in the 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Game, his first, with a 26-6-7 record, four shutouts and a .924 save percentage that ranks sixth among NHL goalies who have played at least 20 games.

"Last year was bad, but I got a ton better," Hellebuyck said. "Wade Flaherty is an unbelievable goalie coach. We were working every single day, and I got a ton better every single day."

In the offseason, Hellebuyck continued remodeling his game, working with trainer Adam Francilia, who is the director of development for Alpha Hockey Inc., based in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Video: Connor Hellebuyck on the 2018 All-Star Game and more

There, Hellebuyck rebuilt his training routine with a focus on core strength, tied directly to the ideal functional movement and specific biomechanics of goaltending. It provided him with a new foundation for movement that is noticeably more controlled and compact when compared to last season.

The changes in technique and training methods reinforced each other.

"Now I take that improvement and put it with my new foundation -- and the team is obviously playing really good in front of me too -- and things are starting to succeed," Hellebuyck said.

The improvements with Flaherty include changes in sealing the post on sharp-angled plays. Hellebuyck relied on a traditional VH (vertical-horizontal) technique, placing his short-side pad vertically against the post and dropping his back pad horizontally along the ice. Last season, he added reverse-VH to his repertoire, dropping the short-side pad to the ice with the skate tucked inside the post, leaning his upper body over that leg and into the post, and keeping the back leg up to both push into the post and pivot around it.

There were times last season he used his new techniques too much, too soon or in the wrong situations. Again, it was a short-term growing pain that Hellebuyck trusted would pay off in the future.

Video: WPG@SJS: Hellebuyck stones Pavelski on partial break

Joe Clark, who helped develop Hellebuyck as a young goaltender, credits his protege for using the resources available to him to help him make the necessary changes.

"A big part of Connor's progression, and it's a tribute to him, is that he trusts the people around him," said Clark, who has been close to Hellebuyck since he was the general manager and goaltending coach in Odessa. "That's a big deal, whether it's [Flaherty] or (agent) Ray Petkau, or [Francilia], his inner circle; credit Connor for trusting them to steer him in the right direction."