The addition of veteran Brossoit as a free agent will keep No. 1 netminder Petr Mrazek fresh and allow Arvid Söderblom to get his game together with AHL Rockford.
Chicago Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek had a resurgent, terrific 2023-24 season. Teammates routinely called the 32-year old Czech their MVP, even with the arrival of Calder Trophy winner Connor Bedard.
Laurent Brossoit
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Healthy after two years of battling groin/core injuries, Mrazek kept the often outmanned Blackhawks in games all season. He appeared in a career-high 56 games (starting 53), and posted a 3.05 goal-against average and .907 save percentage.
In 2024-25, Mrazek will have some established backup help in 31-year-old Laurent Brossoit. The Blackhawks signed the 10-year veteran to a two-year contract with a $3.3 million salary-cap hit during their free-agent flurry on July 1.
It makes for a solid netminding tandem, and will prevent Mrazek from burning out. The 6-foot-3 Brossoit was the No. 2 man to Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck in Winnipeg last season, going 15-5-5 in 23 games with a 2.00 goals against and .927 save percentage.
Fills Huge Gap And Helps Arvid Söderblom
And Brossoit fills a big gap. When Mrazek didn't play last season, the Blackhawks usually had little hope with often overwhelmed 25-year-old Arvid Söderblom in nets. The Swede wasn't ready for regular NHL action.
Laurent Brossoit (right) congratulates Jets' No. 1 goal Connor Hellebuyck after a win.
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Despite some early success in 2023-24 — including two wins over Toronto — Söderblom sagged to a 5-22-2 record with 3.92 goals against and a .879 save percentage that ranked 64th among 65 goalies. Untimely and short-side goals became commonplace.
"Bringing in Brossoit, when he goes in the net you know you're going to get a solid performance the guys can believe in back there," Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said. "He's been a really good kind of 1B or backup for quite some time in our league.
"So to bring someone in who's established like that, knows the league, knows how to step in when needed is super important and really happy to make that addition." See the following video.
And Brossoit knows how to win, being part of Vegas' puck-stopping mix in 2022-23 as the Golden Knights claimed their first Stanley Cup. He appeared in eight postseason contests during the run, going 5-2 as a backup to Adin Hill.
Arvid Söderblom in action last season
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Söderblom will be able to work on his game at AHL Rockford, alongside fellow goalie prospect Drew Commesso
"Arvid had a bit of a tough year," Davidson said. "Granted we weren't great in front of him any maybe didn't put him in the greatest situations to succeed, but this will give him and opportunity to reload, get his confidence back and be able to get back to that trajectory he was on."
Coach Luke Richardson echoed that assessment.
“When goals start going in on the backdoor and stuff, it takes away the confidence of the goalie,” Richardson said. “He’s not trusting [the defense], and it got him right off his game.
"And he couldn’t work on his game at the NHL level. Teams go right after him. So it’s going to allow him to work on his game, build it back up to where it was."
