Blackhawks goaltender Laurent Brossoit was on the ice today ahead of practice for the first time in well over a year, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Brossoit has not played since April 28, 2024, when the former Jets netminder entered Winnipeg’s loss in Game 4 of the first round against the Avalanche in relief of Connor Hellebuyck. He hit unrestricted free agency the following offseason and signed a two-year, $6.6MM contract with Chicago, but he’s yet to even practice with the club – until today.
He’s spent the last 12 months mired in injuries. It started with a meniscus surgery in late August 2024 before he reported to his first training camp in Chicago. That was only supposed to keep him out for around two months, but his return kept getting pushed back until he was downgraded to being out indefinitely in November. He had a second procedure on his knee around Thanksgiving that was supposed to put him back in the lineup in mid-January, but after radio silence until the trade deadline, he was shut down for the year. Brossoit underwent a third surgery this past summer – on his hip, not his knee – and general manager Kyle Davidson said at the beginning of camp that he remained out long-term.
That made most believe he’d essentially spend the balance of his two-year deal on injured reserve and never actually appear on Chicago’s roster before reaching free agency again next summer. He’s still likely weeks, if not months, away from a return, considering how much time he’s missed, but the fact that he’s on the ice this early in the campaign gives him a fighting chance at returning to play at some point.
Before signing with the Blackhawks, Brossoit had put up back-to-back career years. A lifelong backup, he’d posted a .927 SV% and 2.00 GAA with three shutouts in a career-high 22 starts for Winnipeg in 2024-25. The year prior, injuries limited Brossoit to 11 regular-season appearances for the Golden Knights, but he was similarly efficient, posting a 7-0-3 record and a .927 SV% with a 2.17 GAA. On a per-60-minute basis, Brossoit ranked sixth in the league in goals saved above expected in 2022-23 and fifth in 2023-24 among goalies with at least 10 games played, according to MoneyPuck.
That had the Hawks high on him as a veteran option to provide insurance for Petr Mrázek, whose workload they wanted to decrease after he started in a career-high 53 games in 2023-24. Since then, Chicago’s crease has undergone a drastic transformation. After Mrázek put together a strong .907 SV% in 2023-24, he dipped to a .890 SV% and 3.46 GAA in 33 appearances for the Hawks last year and was shipped off to the Red Wings at the deadline.
Now, Chicago’s crease is locked in with two young names. There’s 2019 first-rounder Spencer Knight, acquired from the Panthers last season in the Seth Jones deal, who’s arguably been the best goalie in the league this season with a .924 SV%, 2.42 GAA, and 14.7 goals saved above expected in 13 starts. His backup is 26-year-old Arvid Söderblom, whose emergence as an above-average backup option last year made Mrázek expendable. He hasn’t gotten much playing time this year behind Knight, but in five starts, he’s been more than passable with a 2-2-1 record, .913 SV%, and 2.63 GAA.
That doesn’t leave a clear spot for Brossoit on the NHL roster if he’s to return. With Knight shouldering such a high percentage of the workload, a three-goalie rotation isn’t feasible. He’ll likely land on waivers if he’s cleared to play and assigned to AHL Rockford. Since he’s had so much time away, it’s hard to see a team trading for him – or signing him in free agency next summer – before they see him get into sustained action at the minor-league level.