Jets' Connor Hellebuyck dilemma is clear originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Winnipeg Jets could trade Connor Hellebuyck.

But even as the Buffalo Sabres and other teams circle the waters, the Jets could also choose to keep their star goalie.

It's a decision that will define the Jets' future.

On the one hand, they trade Hellebuyck, and at that point, they probably need to commit fully to a rebuild. Other trades would likely follow.

The flip side has the Jets keeping Hellebuyck and chasing playoff spots for as long as he's in net.

Both sides have their pros and cons. It's up to the Jets to decide which pursuit to take.

MORE:How a 3-team Dylan Larkin, Jason Robertson trade could work

The Athletic's Murat Ates laid this all out in a new article on Monday. The dilemma is clear, but the choice is less so.

"So July rolls on. Training camp opens in under two months," Ates writes. " (Kevin) Cheveldayoff must appease Hellebuyck, such that the franchise goaltender jumps back on the Winnipeg bandwagon that he’s pulled so hard on for so many years, or he must conjure a successful blockbuster at a time when most managers look at their rosters with a sense of summery contentment."

To the final point there -- it is fascinating that this is lingering, because most of the big offseason moves have already happened in the NHL, aside from anything to do with Dylan Larkin or Jason Robertson.

This isn't the NBA, where LeBron James remains a free agent and the league is in a holding pattern.

Teams have, for the most part, addressed potential goalie needs. That's why Hellebuyck appears ticketed to Buffalo and maybe nowhere else.

But it's still going to come down to the Jets' side of things. Can they make Hellebuyck feel welcome after an offseason of trade rumors? Or will they, in the end, take what they can get to move on into a new era of hockey in Winnipeg, one that might go down before it rises back up again?

It's the biggest decision the Jets will make this year.

7-foot-1 draft pick is impossibly tall