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The Winnipeg Jets currently have 42 players still on their active roster heading into the final weeks of preseason hockey and one of those, goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, may be the most intriguing puzzle piece for the upcoming season.

The Jets boast a surprisingly strong corps of forward prospects and young players that could easily mean a bright future for the club.

They’ve got the recently-gone-pro NCAA wunderkind Kyle Connor, who dazzled at center as a freshman last year for the University of Michigan. They’ve got intriguing names like Nic Petan and Chase de Leo, both undersized but effective in junior (and hopefully in the NHL one day, as well). They’ve got Nikolaj Ehlers, who transitioned somewhat seamlessly to the NHL last year; they’ve got Josh Morrisey on the blue line, and they’ve got the electrifying Patrik Laine fresh off an impressive campaign in Finland last year.

All of those players will make up a strong Jets roster in the coming years, that much is easy to predict. Their true golden ticket to success, though, is likely Hellebuyck — which makes this preseason so important.

The Jets have run with de facto starter Ondrej Pavelec for the last five seasons; before then, he carried a heavy workload for the team as the former Atlanta Thrashers.

He’s put up inconsistent numbers throughout that time, though. When he’s on — such as during his 31-save shutout in a preseason game earlier this week — he’s starter material. That isn’t always the case, though, and it hurts the Jets year after year. They’ve often found themselves backsliding, and Pavelec often found himself in the spotlight as one of the main causes.

That means that for the first time in years, the Jets may be looking for a new incumbent in net as soon as this fall, and it could very well be Hellebuyck.

Fresh off his stint as the third goaltender for Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey, the 23-year-old Hellebuyck was picked to the tournament roster for a reason.

He impressed in his first year of NHL hockey last season with the Jets, holding down the fort for a chunk of the year when Pavelec went out with injury. Even as a rookie, he posted a 0.918 save percentage and two shutouts in 26 regular season games, far outplaying Pavelec’s numbers during the year.

He’s a World Championships bronze medalist with Team USA, and his NCAA and AHL numbers put him in a class all his own. Ideally, he’d be their new in-net face of the franchise. But that doesn’t take into account that they do have two other, more experienced netminders on the roster.

Despite all the empirical evidence that Hellebuyck is the right choice for starter, though, the Jets remain a team unwilling to reveal much about their goaltending choices for next year. With just under two weeks until the start of the regular season, the Central Division club has played both of their regular NHL goaltenders from last season — Pavelec and backup Michael Hutchinson — in their last two preseason tilts.

Both have played well, so it’s not all that certain that Hellebuyck will start out the year as the team’s primary option. He may not even be their second option.

That could hurt the team’s hopes of turning things around and reaching the postseason next year.

In 2015, the Jets fell backwards into the postseason with a fifth place finish in their division, and were bounced in the first round with a sweep by the Anaheim Ducks. Even the Calgary Flames, who made the 2015 postseason by virtue of an unsustainably inflated shooting percentage during the year, managed to take home wins against the Ducks before getting bounced in the second round.

The following year, the Jets took a step backwards. They remain the only NHL club that has not only never won a postseason round, but has never won a postseason game. They’ve only made the playoffs once while in Winnipeg and once while still in Atlanta, and they were swept both times.

The entirety of the time the club has been in Winnipeg, they’ve been reliant on Pavelec in net, and he’s failed to deliver. He and the team fell apart during their lone playoff run, and there’s little evidence to suggest that won’t continue to be the case in coming years.

Of course, Pavelec has never had the young, exciting corps in front of him that he would now. Patrik Laine was potentially a first overall pick this summer, while Kyle Connor could be the team’s next great center. It’s not outlandish to assume that the young talent that’s been injected into the system for next year could help improve things, regardless of whether or not Pavelec remains the starter.

Good teams don’t just rely on talent in one area to carry their weak positions, though. If the Jets truly want to ice their best roster next year, their newest netminding heir apparent will get a shot over their old guard.

What will this take? That’s hard to say.

In order for Hutchinson to head to the AHL next year — which would leave a tandem of Pavelec and Hellebuyck to carry the club — they’d have to expose last year’s backup to waivers. As a more-than-competent number two, he’d almost certainly be claimed. Pavelec costs far too much to be playing in the minors, and it’s unlikely someone would want to trade for him with inconsistency issues and age not on his side (he’s currently 29).

There’s the option, of course, to trade Hutchinson. That may be the best course of action, but that would take patience, as it could take weeks, if not longer, to find an interested buyer willing to send a worthwhile return.

The difficulty the Jets will have making it possible to start Hellebuyck next year, though, shouldn’t be a significant deterrent. If the club is truly invested in icing the best possible roster next year, they’ll need to find a way to get their American-born prospect to the top of the depth chart, no matter what.

Column: Jets prospects won’t reach potential without Hellebuyck