Laurent Brossoit is coming back to Winnipeg. It was announced earlier this month that Brossoit, following his Stanley Cup-winning stint with the Vegas Golden Knights, signed a one-year deal with the Jets.
Brossoit previously spent three seasons with the Jets, between 2018 and 2021. Since then, he was the starter in all five games in the first round of the 2022-2023 playoffs, which saw the Knights’ decisive victory over the Jets. He would go on to start in the second round before suffering a groin injury against Edmonton, leading Adin Hill to start in net for the remainder of Vegas’ cup-winning playoff run.
Even as Jets fans heckled Brossoit with chants of “You’re a backup!” during the first round, his addition is sorely needed on a Winnipeg team that has relied too heavily on Connor Hellebuyck to carry goaltending.
The Jets haven’t exactly embraced the tandem model, instead opting to prioritize primarily playing Hellebuyck, with his goalie partner in any given season starting about half as often as he does.
Besides the abbreviated 2020-2021 season, Hellebuyck has started in at least 50 games a season since 2016, and more often than not that figure has eclipsed 60 games. This format risks overburdening Hellebuyck, who also carried all five games of the Jets’ brief playoff stint this past season.
Since Hellebuyck’s most recent backup, David Rittich, signed with LA, and trading Hellebuyck does not appear to be immediately impending, Brossoit’s presence should ameliorate Winnipeg’s goalie woes.
With Hellebuyck himself apparently lukewarm on committing himself to a long-term future in Winnipeg – he was quoted by Luke Fox as saying that “it doesn’t matter where I’m playing, I’m going after a Cup. And whatever jersey I put on, I’m going to be honoured to put that jersey on – a more even split in playing time between him and Brossoit could be interesting, especially since, while with Vegas, Brossoit had 43 starts.
Given that Hellebuyck is approaching the final year of his contract, this would allow the Jets to trade Hellebuyck following or during the coming season while still leaving the team with a goalie with plenty of playing time under his belt. In the future, this could set the Jets up well to transition to a tandem setup for their goaltending unit, or even push Brossoit into a starting role.
After two high-impact trades: adding Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, and Rasmus Kupari (and a second-round pick next year’s draft) in exchange for the Kings picking up Pierre-Luc Dubois and buying out Blake Wheeler’s contract so he could sign with the Rangers – Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has been laying low. The biggest questions still up in the air are what will be done with Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck, both of whom will be entering the final year of their respective contracts.
In the weeks since the Wheeler and Dubois moves, the Jets have been inert but for the draft and development camp. With no word on intentions to move Hellebuyck in the near future, it looks like the plan is to keep him on through the next season.
Murat Ates reported that Brossoit said he plans to “push Helly. He’s obviously the guy that has been trusted there for a long time and he’s a good friend of mine, but I’m going to push him like I did when I was here last. Hopefully we can both be better for it and have the strongest tandem in the league.”
Even when the team flails, Hellebuyck is all but guaranteed at least a nomination for the Vezina. Recognizing that the team is likely to lose his star power by next offseason, the Jets elected to bring back a familiar face to potentially ease the transfer of power.
Brossoit is certainly no Hellebuyck (who else could have made the most saves in the league since 2015), but he’s expressed excitement about rejoining the Jets.
His goal for the season, as reported by Mitchell Clinton, is to prove his value to the team, the fans, and the league: “I think I showed a lot of people what I can do, showed myself what I can do this past year. But everyone wants to see a little more of that, a full season.”
Stay tuned for more NHL content, including off-season moves and prospect updates.
Featured content courtesy of NHL.com
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