West Notes: Spurgeon, Hartman, Brossoit, Hague
Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon returned to practice Friday for the first time since being sidelined after two games with a lower-body injury related to his surgeries last season, relays John Shipley of the Pioneer Press. It’s unlikely that he’ll suit up today but the team is hoping that the captain could return on Tuesday in Pittsburgh. Spurgeon has been a key cog on Minnesota’s back end for the better part of the last 15 years and will give them a boost when he’s able to return.
Meanwhile, Michael Russo of The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that the Wild have sent forward Ryan Hartman back to Minnesota, meaning he will miss the final two games of the road trip. The 30-year-old suffered an upper-body injury a week and a half ago and while he has been listed as day-to-day in that stretch, his recovery is seemingly taking a bit longer than anticipated. He has two goals in four games so far this season.
Elsewhere out West:
- While the Blackhawks were hoping Laurent Brossoit wouldn’t miss much time to start the season, that’s not going to be the case. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times relays (Twitter link) that the netminder won’t begin skating until next week and will need a couple of weeks from there to be game-ready. Brossoit suffered a knee injury in late August during offseason training, delaying what’s expected to be a legitimate opportunity at Chicago’s number one job after putting up a 2.00 GAA and a .927 SV% in 23 games with Winnipeg last season.
- Golden Knights defenseman Nic Hague left yesterday’s game with a lower-body injury but it doesn’t appear that it’s particularly serious. Speaking with reporters postgame including Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, head coach Bruce Cassidy wasn’t able to rule the blueliner in or out for their game tonight against San Jose. Hague has one goal in eight games so far this season, that coming last night against Ottawa.
Laurent Brossoit, Artyom Levshunov, Wyatt Kaiser To Begin Season On IR
The Blackhawks released to reporters yesterday that, as expected, goaltender Laurent Brossoit and defensemen Artyom Levshunov and Wyatt Kaiser will all begin the regular season on injured reserve. Mario Tirabassi of CHGO Sports relayed the news.
There’s still no specific timeline for a return for Kaiser, the only one of the group placed on standard IR. The placement, which is due to illness, is retroactive to Sep. 19, Tirabassi relayed. That was the first day of Chicago’s training camp, which Kaiser has yet to be a full participant in. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier in the week that pre-camp testing flagged an undisclosed concern with Kaiser’s health that was invasive in nature, but that he’d since been cleared. He’s still ramping up to game speed, though, and won’t be ready for their season opener in Utah on Oct. 8.
Kaiser shouldn’t miss too much more time after that, though. That’s good news for the Hawks, who are hoping to work the 22-year-old into more regular minutes this season. A third-round pick in 2020, he split last year relatively evenly between Chicago and AHL Rockford. He looked like he’d taken a step forward in his NHL appearances, though, posting seven assists and an even rating in 32 games. Averaging 17:19 per game, they certainly could’ve gotten worse out of a young defender on a rebuilding squad.
Meanwhile, Brossoit and Levshunov are beginning the season on the non-roster list, which is no surprise. Both sustained knee and foot injuries, respectively, late in the offseason that the team said would keep them out of training camp and plunge their regular season opener availability into doubt. Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson did say Thursday that Brossoit is on track to return sometime during their season-opening road trip, though, so he’ll likely be added to the roster by the end of next weekend.
The 31-year-old will serve as a far more formidable backup to Petr Mrázek this year after logging a sparkling .927 SV% over the past two years in limited usage with the Golden Knights and Jets. That’s a massive step up on the level of play provided by 25-year-old Arvid Söderblom last year, who posted a .879 SV% and 3.92 GAA in 32 appearances behind Mrázek en route to carrying one of the worst stat lines in the NHL.
He or Kaiser will be the first one to return to action. Levshunov’s season debut, whether it comes with Chicago or Rockford, will need to wait until mid-to-late October. Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson said on Sep. 20 that the 2024 second-overall pick was still four weeks away from returning to game action after taking a puck to the foot in rookie camp. Levshunov, 19 later this month, had 35 points and a +27 rating in 38 games for Michigan State last year as a freshman before promptly signing his entry-level contract after being drafted by Chicago.
Snapshots: Knies, Brossoit, Barlow, Gustafsson
While the Maple Leafs have been working on (and might be nearing) an extension with pending UFA defenseman Jake McCabe, meaningful talks haven’t started with another one of their 2025 free agents. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports in their latest Insider Trading segment that there hasn’t been any meaningful dialogue regarding a new deal for winger Matthew Knies, who will be a restricted free agent next summer. The 21-year-old had a solid rookie season in 2023-24, collecting 15 goals and 20 assists in 80 games and appears to be one of their younger building blocks up front. That said, it wouldn’t be surprising if at least one of the two sides has indicated that they’d rather wait to see how things go this season to get a better sense of his value before kickstarting talks later on.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- While the Blackhawks won’t have their newest goaltender available for the start of the season, it appears he won’t be out for too long. Head coach Luke Richardson told reporters including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link) that Laurent Brossoit is on track to return roughly midway through their season-opening four-game road trip to start the season, meaning he might only miss a couple of games. The 31-year-old posted a 2.00 GAA with a .927 SV% in 23 games for Winnipeg last season, earning Brossoit a two-year, $6.6MM contract on the opening day of free agency this past summer.
- After requesting a trade earlier in the week, Jets prospect Colby Barlow is indeed on the move. OHL Oshawa announced that they have acquired the 19-year-old forward from Owen Sound in exchange for two players and six draft picks. Barlow was the 18th overall selection in 2023 following a 46-goal campaign with the Attack. However, his offensive numbers dipped last season although he still managed 40 goals and 58 points in 50 games before getting into three AHL contests. Barlow is too young to play there full-time this season but will be AHL-eligible next year, making this a pure one-year rental for the Generals.
- Still with the Jets, Murat Ates of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that forward David Gustafsson is listed as day-to-day due to a lower-body injury sustained in Wednesday’s game against Calgary. The 24-year-old played in 39 games with Winnipeg last season, notching three goals and four assists. He inked a two-year, $1.67MM one-way contract with the Jets back in July.
Blackhawks Notes: Levshunov, Brossoit, Reichel
Ben Pope of The Chicago Sun-Times tweeted that Chicago Blackhawks defensive prospect Artyom Levshunov is about four weeks away from returning to action. This year’s second overall pick hurt his right foot blocking a shot on September 11th but could start skating again in a week or so if all goes well between now and then.
The 18-year-old missed the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase last week and will miss the start of the season given the most recent timeline. He was already a long shot to make the Blackhawks NHL roster and will almost certainly start the season with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, given the injury.
In other Blackhawks notes:
- Blackhawks netminder Laurent Brossoit is reportedly on a similar timeline to Levshunov and isn’t expected to get back into the lineup for another four weeks (as per Ben Pop of the Chicago Sun-Times). Broissoit underwent meniscus surgery on his right knee in late August and was expected to recover in 5-7 weeks. The 31-year-old was rock solid as the Winnipeg Jets backup last season, posting a 15-5-2 record with a .927 save percentage. Given the timeline, Broissoit will likely miss the first week or two of the regular season.
- Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson expects that forward Lukas Reichel will compete for a top-six spot this season (as per Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago). Davidson told reporters that the team doesn’t want the 22-year-old playing fourth-line minutes this season and would like to see him figure out a way to cement himself on the top two lines. Reichel has had an uneven start to his NHL career notching 15 points in 23 games during an abbreviated run in 2022-23 but watched his offensive numbers fall off a cliff during his first full NHL season last year. The Nurnberg, Germany native posted just five goals and 11 assists in 65 games last season but still demonstrated the solid skating and strong hockey sense that made him the 17th overall pick in 2020.
Laurent Brossoit To Miss Five To Seven Weeks From Knee Surgery
Goaltender for the Chicago Blackhawks, Laurent Brossoit, is confirmed to be out most of if not all of training camp as the team announced he is set to miss five to seven weeks while recovering from meniscus surgery yesterday. The team recently signed Brossoit to a two-year, $6.6MM contract on the opening day of free agency this summer.
The Blackhawks are set to take on the Utah Hockey Club for their first game of the regular season on October 8th which means Brossoit could miss up to four games if he takes seven weeks to recover. If Brossoit can rebound on the quicker end of the prognosis he would be able to participate in Chicago’s last two preseason games against the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues on October 4th and 5th, respectively.
Luckily even if Brossoit takes the maximum amount of time the Blackhawks will not be in too much of a hole at the goaltending position as they could recall last year’s backup, Arvid Soderblom, to stay with the team through the first week of the regular season. Soderblom would objectively serve as a downgrade to Brossoit but four games in early October should not make-or-break Chicago’s season.
Brossoit should ultimately serve as a co-starter in the Blackhawks’ net alongside Petr Mrazek. He has spent nearly all his career in a backup role and sought a share of the starts in his next home. Chicago served as an ideal choice for this as although Mrazek performed amicably for the team last season they needed a better option outside of Soderblom.
The Port Alberni, BC native has arguably been one of the better backup goaltenders over the last two years albeit surviving multiple stints on the injured reserve. Brossoit has amassed a 22-5-5 record over 34 games split between the Vegas Golden Knights and Winnipeg Jets since the start of the 2022-23 season with a .927 save percentage and 2.05 goals-against average. He will no longer have the defensive core in front of him that he’s had in seasons past which could negatively impact his numbers next year.
The Blackhawks have nothing to lose by giving Brossoit a two-year deal this summer as the team has little hope of contending over the next two seasons. Nevertheless, Brossoit will put them in a much better position to win this season comparing last year’s options.
Blackhawks To Sign Alec Martinez, Laurent Brossoit, Three Others
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports the Chicago Blackhawks have signed defenseman Alec Martinez to a one-year, $4MM contract. Additionally — the team has also agreed to terms with goaltender Laurent Brossoit on a two-year, $6.6MM contract, forward Craig Smith on a one-year, $1MM contract, and forward Pat Maroon on a one-year, $1.3MM contract. And while they didn’t qualify him yesterday, winger Joey Anderson is sticking around in Chicago. He’s inking a two-year deal with an $800K cap hit, The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports.
The Blackhawks had quite a few dollars to throw around today and this grouping of players doesn’t even represent all of the organization’s signings today. Chicago has taken a major step forward in their rebuild with these moves, as they’ve grabbed arguably the best goaltender available on the market in addition to two veteran talents with Stanley Cup pedigree. Martinez and Maroon have combined for six Stanley Cup rings throughout their careers and will bring a wealth of experience and leadership to Chicago’s lineup.
Martinez recently wrapped up a four-and-a-half season run with the Vegas Golden Knights while he saw his spot on the depth chart slowly deteriorate. After scoring 32 points in 53 games during the 2020-21 season, Martinez fell to 17 points in 59 games this past year while seeing his ice time drop by nearly three minutes on average. Due to the moves Vegas made on their blue line, Martinez’s time with the organization unceremoniously ended.
In terms of production, Maroon and Smith bring similar power to the roster. Both individuals play with a physical edge while Smith can be counted on for more goals. Factoring in the retention of Anderson on a two-year deal, the Blackhawks bottom-six will be significantly harder to play against than just a season ago.
Finishing up with Brossoit, Chicago brings in some help behind Petr Mrazek. Seeking a larger opportunity outside of a backup role, Brossoit should be set to share the net with Mrazek instead of operating behind a more talented netminder. After winning a Stanley Cup Championship with the Vegas Golden Knights, Brossoit returned to the Winnipeg Jets on a one-year deal in which he would produce a 15-5-2 record in 22 games while posting a .927 SV% and 2.00 GAA.
Maple Leafs Linked To Laurent Brossoit
The Maple Leafs and netminder Laurent Brossoit will have mutual interest in a deal should he reach unrestricted free agency on July 1, The Athletic’s James Mirtle reports.
Brossoit, 31, is likely headed to market in search of a bigger role after making 22 starts last season behind Connor Hellebuyck with the Jets. He’s coming off a great season in his limited relief action, putting up a .927 SV%, 2.00 GAA and three shutouts, but without any history in a tandem role, he won’t command too much cash.
Those 22 starts were remarkably a career-high for the veteran netminder, who just completed his 10th NHL season. His career numbers (.911 SV%, 2.64 GAA) rival the other top options slated for the open market, like Anthony Stolarz and Cam Talbot, and he’s arguably been the best pure backup in the league over the past 18 months.
A member of the Cup-winning Golden Knights last season, Brossoit started the year on the injured list and was sent down to the minors upon his return to health in November. But he worked his way back to the Vegas roster later in the year, posting a .927 SV% in 10 starts and one relief appearance. That earned him the start in Game 1 of their postseason run against the Jets, and while an injury eventually forced him out of the crease and opened the door for Adin Hill, he’d re-established himself as a major-league talent.
As Mirtle posits, a short-term deal in the neighborhood of $3MM annually is a realistic bet for Brossoit. It’s similar to what Stolarz, who’s coming off a .925 SV% in 27 appearances behind Sergei Bobrovsky in Florida, should garner as well.
He would be Toronto’s replacement for Ilya Samsonov, who will hit free agency next month and isn’t expected back. He’d been serviceable but inconsistent in tandem action for them over the past two seasons, although he did backstop them to their first playoff series win of the Auston Matthews era against the Lightning in the first round in 2023.
In Toronto, Brossoit would nearly guarantee himself a new career-high in starts, assuming he avoids injuries. He’d serve in a tandem role with the younger Joseph Woll, who is slated to eventually take over as the Leafs’ long-term starter. Injuries limited him to 25 games last year, posting a respectable .907 SV%, but he’s also been excellent in brief playoff action over the last two seasons.
West Notes: Toffoli, Brossoit, Hague, Kiviranta
The Jets don’t have a ton of pending unrestricted free agents, but enough to lead to some significant depth turnover after failing to win a playoff series for the third year in a row. Two players who could opt not to re-sign and test the open market are veteran winger Tyler Toffoli and backup netminder Laurent Brossoit, Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe of The Winnipeg Free Press posit.
Brossoit’s return to the Jets last summer for his second stint with the club was a surprise. The 31-year-old’s stock was at an all-time high after posting a .927 SV% in 11 games down the stretch for the Golden Knights after returning from injury, and he was serviceable in eight playoff appearances as Vegas won the Stanley Cup. Some believed he would be able to land a role as a tandem netminder and eclipse his previous career-high of 24 appearances, but he instead opted to return to a familiar role backing up Connor Hellebuyck on a one-year, $1.75MM deal.
It worked out as well as it possibly could for Brossoit, who was excellent with a .927 SV% and three shutouts in 22 starts and one relief appearance. Back-to-back strong seasons after a rather roller-coaster career now have him fully primed to look for more starts on the UFA market in a couple of months.
Toffoli, meanwhile, was underwhelming after the Jets paid a second and third-round pick to acquire him at 50% salary retention from the Devils at the trade deadline. He posted seven goals and 11 points in 18 games down the stretch in the regular season but saw his ice time dip in the postseason, averaging only 14:05 per game against the Avs while scoring twice with a -2 rating in the five-game loss.
Elsewhere out West:
- The Golden Knights won’t get defenseman Nicolas Hague back for Game 7 against the Stars tomorrow, head coach Bruce Cassidy said (via The Athletic’s Jesse Granger). The bottom-pairing fixture sustained a lower-body injury in Game 1 and hasn’t yet returned to practice. Hague, 25, also missed eight games with a lower-body injury early in the season. He finished the regular season with two goals, 10 assists, 12 points and a -5 rating in 73 games while averaging 18:33 per contest.
- Avalanche depth winger Joel Kiviranta is working his way back to full health while Colorado awaits the winner of tomorrow’s Dallas/Vegas game. He returned to practice yesterday for the first time since sustaining an undisclosed injury in Game 3 against Winnipeg, Colorado Hockey Now’s Evan Rawal reports. He had one assist before exiting their first-round win, averaging 10:14 per game with a +2 rating.
Nominees Announced For 2024 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
The Bill Masterton Trophy is awarded annually to the player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. Nominees are selected by members of the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association, with finalists being named near the end of the regular season. Previous winners include Kris Letang (2023), Carey Price (2022), and Oskar Lindblom (2021). Today, a new list of 32 nominees has been named.
Below are the nominees from each team:
Anaheim Ducks – Urho Vaakanainen
Arizona Coyotes – Connor Ingram
Boston Bruins – Danton Heinen
Buffalo Sabres – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Calgary Flames – Oliver Kylington
Carolina Hurricanes – Frederik Andersen
Chicago Blackhawks – Colin Blackwell
Colorado Avalanche – Jonathan Drouin
Columbus Blue Jackets – Zach Werenski
Dallas Stars – Matt Duchene
Detroit Red Wings – Alex Lyon
Edmonton Oilers – Vincent Desharnais
Florida Panthers – Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Los Angeles Kings – Viktor Arvidsson
Minnesota Wild – Marco Rossi
Montreal Canadiens – Joel Armia
Nashville Predators – Michael McCarron
New Jersey Devils – Curtis Lazar
New York Islanders – Cal Clutterbuck
New York Rangers – Jonathan Quick
Ottawa Senators – Claude Giroux
Philadelphia Flyers – Sean Couturier
Pittsburgh Penguins – Sidney Crosby
San Jose Sharks – Justin Bailey
Seattle Kraken – Joey Daccord
St. Louis Blues – Nathan Walker
Tampa Bay Lightning – Michael Eyssimont
Toronto Maple Leafs – Ilya Samsonov
Vancouver Canucks – Noah Juulsen
Vegas Golden Knights – Alex Pietrangelo
Washington Capitals – T.J. Oshie
Winnipeg Jets – Laurent Brossoit
Winnipeg Jets Sign Laurent Brossoit, Vladislav Namestnikov, Jeffrey Viel
The Winnipeg Jets have brought back two familiar faces. They’ve signed goaltender Laurent Brossoit back from the Vegas Golden Knights on a one-year $1.75MM deal, per TSN’s Chris Johnston. They’ve also signed forward Vladislav Namestnikov to a two-year, $2MM AAV deal per TSN’s Darren Dreger. Dreger reports they’ve also added former San Jose Sharks forward Jeffrey Viel to a one-year, one-way $775k deal.
Brossoit returns to Winnipeg after a two-year stint with Vegas. He originally signed with the Golden Knights to be their backup goalie and while he held that role in 2021-22, that wasn’t the case in 2022-23. He underwent hip surgery last summer which kept him out of the lineup at the start of the year. Upon returning, Brossoit cleared waivers and was assigned to AHL Henderson. He played in 23 games with the Silver Knights, compiling a 2.72 GAA with a .909 SV% before being recalled in February when injuries struck.
Brossoit himself couldn’t avoid the injury bug the rest of the way as he spent a month on IR soon after but he still made ten starts for Vegas, posting a 2.17 GAA with a .927 SV%; the Golden Knights picked up at least a point in each of those starts. That, coupled with injuries to Adin Hill and Logan Thompson, resulted in Brossoit being the starter for Vegas in their first-round victory over the Jets. Unfortunately, Brossoit was injured partway through the second round against Edmonton, paving the way for Hill to run with the starting job from there. Nevertheless, Brossoit did well enough to earn himself a second chance with the Jets.
As for Namestnikov, he was brought in from San Jose at the trade deadline, a day after the Sharks picked him up from Tampa Bay. The 30-year-old provided Winnipeg with some much-needed secondary scoring down the stretch, picking up 10 points in 20 games with his new team while seeing his playing time jump up by more than three minutes a night to just under 15 minutes per game.
To say that Namestnikov has bounced around in recent years would be putting it lightly. Since the 2019-20 season, the veteran has played for seven different teams (which doesn’t include his brief stint as a Shark). It’s likely that putting a second year on the table helped to secure the commitment from Namestnikov who now has a chance to get a bit of stability while remaining an important part of Winnipeg’s secondary offensive group.
Viel, meanwhile, comes to Winnipeg after a five-year stint in San Jose. The 26-year-old spent most of last season with the AHL Barracuda, picking up 15 goals and 16 assists along with 150 penalty minutes, good for third in the AHL in that department. Viel is best known for being a physical presence on the fourth line in his previous NHL duty, collecting 112 hits and 139 penalty minutes (to go along with five points) in 49 career appearances with the Sharks. As things stand, he’s a candidate to break camp with the Jets on either the fourth line or in a reserve role.