Blackhawks goaltender Laurent Brossoit won’t be sticking on the roster after his conditioning loan to AHL Rockford ended today. He’ll be placed on waivers at 1:00 p.m. Central and will head back to Rockford if he clears tomorrow, head coach Jeff Blashill told reporters (including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times).
Brossoit was never expected to report to Chicago after returning to practice last month and eventually being sent to Rockford for his first playing action in more than a year. He’s been permitted to seek a trade to find a new NHL home, but with no takers so far, he’ll end up on the wire to extend his stay in Rockford.
In all likelihood, the 32-year-old will never play a game for the Blackhawks after signing a two-year, $6.6MM contract in free agency in 2024. There’s no longer a place for him on the roster with Spencer Knight and Arvid Söderblom now entrenched as Chicago’s two NHL options. Late-summer surgery on his meniscus spiraled into more knee surgeries that eventually cost him the entire 2024-25 campaign, and a hip procedure this past summer kept him on the injured list to begin this year.
When Brossoit appeared for Rockford on Dec. 5, it was his first playing action since a relief appearance for the Jets in the 2024 playoffs. The veteran netminder was coming off back-to-back seasons with an exceptional .927 SV% in a backup role before reaching the open market and signing with Chicago.
While his knee and hip issues ended up taking out a solid chunk of his prime, his stint with Rockford showed he’s still a pro-level netminder and could easily find a home elsewhere if Chicago is willing to retain some of his $3.3MM cap hit. He logged a .900 SV% in three starts for the IceHogs – even scoring a goalie goal – and recorded a 2-1-0 record with a 3.39 GAA.
Teams can now have Brossoit for free over the next 24 hours, but they’ll need to take on his full cap hit if they don’t want to pay an acquisition cost. While he counts $3.3MM against the cap, his salary is only $2.3MM this season after Chicago paid out a $1MM signing bonus at the beginning of the season. That could be attractive to cash-conscious teams with cap space to burn.