LAS VEGAS — For the first time in nearly 20 months, Blackhawks goalie Laurent Brossoit will play in a game this weekend.
It won’t be for the Hawks, though, and it likely never will be. The team assigned Brossoit to Rockford on Tuesday for an AHL conditioning stint that can last up to 14 days.
He’ll get a few days of practice with the IceHogs before presumably starting one of their two home games this weekend against the Colorado Eagles (the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate).
All the while, the Hawks are expected to seek a trade partner to rehouse Brossoit, 32, who missed all of last season due to knee problems before finally discovering this past summer that the pain actually stemmed from his hip. He’s ahead of schedule for recovering from hip surgery and feeling better at last.
If current NHL backup Arvid Soderblom continues to struggle in his next couple starts and Brossoit dominates the AHL, perhaps the Hawks would reconsider, but keeping Brossoit doesn’t seem to be the plan for now.
“Whatever the route for me to end up playing in the NHL looks like, I’m all for it,” Brossoit told the Sun-Times a week ago. “I’ve been in this situation before, and it’s always the [outcome] you expect the least that comes to fruition. Whatever that is, I’m game.”
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman has linked Brossoit to the Oilers, who have been held back by a subpar starter in Stuart Skinner for years now and could be interested in alternatives.
It’s impossible to know how good Brossoit will be at this point, but he did post .927 save percentages in backup roles in each of his last two healthy NHL seasons. How he performs in Rockford will be telling.
Absorbing Brossoit’s $3.3 million salary-cap hit would be difficult for the Oilers and many other contenders, though. The Hawks would likely need to be incentivized to retain 50% of that in any trade.