Chicago Blackhawks’ Laurent Brossoit out 5-7 weeks after meniscus repair surgery

It appears that the Chicago Blackhawks may be without one of their new free agent signings to start the season.

According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, Blackhawks goaltender Laurent Brossoit underwent meniscus repair surgery on Tuesday, and will miss the next 5-7 weeks to rehab it.

There’s currently no details as to why Brossoit underwent the surgery at this point of the summer. It’s possible that he recently suffered the injury that required it, or just simply didn’t think he needed the surgery until just now.

The current timeline of return for Brossoit has him returning near the end of the preseason or at the start of the regular season for the Blackhawks. Chicago’s regular season opener is on October 8th against the Utah Hockey Club, which is exactly six weeks after Brossoit had completed his surgery.

Brossoit was a free agent signing for the Blackhawks on the first day of free agency, locking up the goaltender to a two-year contract with a $3.3 million cap hit. Chicago signed him in hopes of solidifying their goaltending tandem alongside Petr Mrazek, but they may have to wait a bit longer to see the tandem work in unison.

Brossoit is coming off of his best season in the NHL, as he had a 15-5-2 record, a .927% save percentage, 3 shutouts and a 17.82 goals saved above expected in 23 games with the Winnipeg Jets in 2023-24. He also had one appearance in the playoffs, getting 18 minutes in the Jets’ 5-1 loss in Game 4, stopping all four shots that he faced in the game.

Brossoit was a sixth-round pick of the Calgary Flames in the 2011 NHL Draft, but never played a game for the organization as he was dealt to the Edmonton Oilers early in the 2013-14 season. After making his NHL debut the following season, he spent four seasons playing a handful of games with the Oilers before they opted to not qualify him, sending him to unrestricted free agency. He then signed with the Jets, where he spent three seasons before spending another two with the Vegas Golden Knights, where he won a Stanley Cup in 2023. He then returned to the Jets last season before signing his current deal with the Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks had a busy offseason filling out their depth around their incoming young talent, as they signed Brossoit, Tyler Bertuzzi, Teuvo Teravainen, Alex Martinez, T.J. Brodie, Pat Maroon and Craig Smith, and also acquiring Ilya Mikheyev and Sam Lafferty from the Vancouver Canucks. They still have more than $6.5 million in cap space to work with, with all of their restricted free agents signed this offseason.