Sep. 18: Brossoit’s continued absence isn’t related to his knee injury after all. The goaltender underwent yet another surgery during the offseason, this time on his hip, which will continue to leave him out long-term, according to Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Sep. 16: Blackhawks goaltender Laurent Brossoit will not participate in training camp as he continues to deal with a right knee injury that already cost him the entire 2024-25 season, the team said when announcing their training camp roster today. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times relays that Brossoit’s absence will be “likely a lot longer than [camp].”
A second missed season would result in Brossoit never playing a game for the Hawks after landing a two-year, $6.6MM commitment from them in free agency last summer. He was initially brought in to challenge veteran Petr Mrázek for the starters’ crease or, at the very least, provide veteran insurance in case the younger Arvid Söderblom continued to falter after an underwhelming showing in 2023-24. While a career backup option, Brossoit was coming off an excellent showing behind Connor Hellebuyck in Winnipeg with a .927 SV% and 2.00 GAA in a career-high 22 starts and capitalized on a weak goaltending market as a UFA.
Then, the injury hit. Brossoit underwent meniscus surgery in late August 2024 and was only initially expected to miss five to seven weeks, eating into his training camp but putting him on track to be available for the beginning of the regular season. The team was still optimistic about his return timeline as the season opener came and went. The team then abruptly downgraded him from day-to-day to indefinite in November. He had a second surgery that was supposed to have him on track to make his season debut in January or February, but the team ended up shutting him down for the season at the trade deadline.
The team was noncommittal about Brossoit’s availability for camp even at the beginning of the offseason, expressing hopefulness but not going so far as to make any official declarations on his status. They kicked the can even further down the road today.
Even if he was healthy, Brossoit would be something of an afterthought in Chicago by now. Söderblom established himself as a legitimate NHL option last season, making 36 appearances and logging a respectable .898 SV% and 3.18 GAA to represent massive upgrades from his prior-year performance. The club then picked up 2019 first-rounder Spencer Knight from the Panthers before the trade deadline as the main piece of the return for defenseman Seth Jones. He enters camp as the undisputed starter and recently put pen to paper on a three-year, $17.5MM extension.
Cap space is of no concern for the Blackhawks, who are closer to the floor than the limit. They’ll have no issue leaving Brossoit’s $3.3MM cap hit on injured reserve for the balance of the 2025-26 campaign if he can’t stage a comeback.
Brossoit’s absence means that offseason free agent signing Stanislav Berezhnoy, a 22-year-old out of Russia, should be the other half of their tandem with Drew Commesso in AHL Rockford. If Brossoit was healthy and ended up heading to the minors, Berezhnoy might have been pushed to an ECHL role to get him playing time to start the year.
Just retire already so the teams know your knees are too shot to play anymore.
He’s not leaving a paycheck behind.
No wonder the Hawks weren’t saying anything about him. It’s embarrassing.
This terrible, And lladvised transaction falls straight on the shoulders of the underqualified KYLE DAVIDSON, Brossoit was injured in 2024 in a playoff game while in net for the Las Vegas Golden Knights, He never recovered from that original injury, In fact it managed to get worse, But in July of 2024 Davidson still thought it was a good idea to give Brossoit a two year guaranteed contract for just over six million total dollars, It’s not okay, It was lazy, And Davidson should be fired!
He played a full season for the jets as a backup goalie after his Vegas season. So not sure what you are talking about.
Please don’t confuse Wilf/Sparky/Welcome with facts. He is at his entertaining best, and a bit of a savant, when he breaks free from reality.
Well no GM bats .1000 but it will take a bit for this to go away I think.
Has anyone actually seen Brossoit? Like we’re sure he’s actually still alive?
He’s actually not a real person. He is an account in the US Virgin Islands meant to provide tax savings to Danny Wirtz.
He’ providing a valuable service in keeping the Hawks above the tax floor. In return he gets free health insurance.
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
OK let’s own up to it. This is probably the worst FA signing in history am I right? Over 6 million bucks for ZERO games. Count em ZERO. Even a 2 year old can count to zero. Gonna be awhile before KD lives this one down. Wow
I mean it’s not even close to the worst contract at the position. I think there’s a certain former Islanders goaltender that would like a word. This one ain’t pretty but it’s hardly the worst.
@Jaxteller – And, Ricky D. does have a pretty good sense of humor. He should with all the Simoleons in the bank, but he’s pretty entertaining on the odd podcast.