We May Not See Blackhawks’ Top Summer Acquisition This Season After All

The Laurent Brossoit situation keeps getting worse. We’ve talked about the Blackhawks’ goaltender room several times in the past few weeks, including how Arvid Soderblom only has four more starts before he’ll be required to pass through waivers in order to be sent to Rockford. Meanwhile, Brossoit is still nowhere to be found. After a knee surgery brought into question whether he would be available for the start of the regular season, he missed that deadline, and is still on IR two months later.

On Friday, we learned that Chicago’s most notable acquisition from this summer’s busy free agency window may not appear for the Blackhawks this season at all. Chicago head coach Luke Richardson said that Brossoit recently had another knee surgery and is scheduled to miss six more weeks. If past experience is any indication, that timeline could extend even longer.

On the bright side, this news could potentially give Brossoit a more accurate timeline. It’s clear the first surgery back in August didn’t fully solve his issue, which is likely why he’s been completely missing with an unclear recovery timeline. Assuming they can get the injury taken care of this time around, he could actually be back after six weeks. Any news is better than no news.

With Brossoit out until at least mid-January, it’s almost certain that Soderblom will appear in four more games before then. Assuming that’s the case, he should be kept at the NHL level through the remainder of the season. If the Blackhawks try to risk putting him through waivers, he would definitely be snatched up – with teams desperate for good goaltenders, he and his .926 save percentage would be a steal.

That leaves Chicago with a few options. When Brossoit returns, he could be activated and the Blackhawks could carry three goaltenders at the NHL level. That would make things easier between the pipes, but much more difficult for the team, since they would be sacrificing an extra forward or defenseman.

The team could also put Brossoit on long-term injured reserve, as a few other teams have done in the past. That may be their most likely option – it would work well for them to keep things as-is through the remainder of the season, considering how well the combination of Soderblom and Petr Mrazek has worked so far.

However, that strategy makes things confusing next summer. Soderblom has been playing so well that the Blackhawks can’t exactly justify sending him down for the 2025-26 season. On the other hand, Brossoit and Mrazek each have one more season left on their contracts after this one. They would have to trade one of the two, and it would have to be Mrazek. Brossoit wouldn’t fetch any value after being out for an entire season, despite posting some impressive numbers in the past. After a few impressive seasons behind subpar defensive units, Mrazek would be a valuable asset in any trade. But would the Blackhawks be comfortable rolling with Brossoit and Soderblom for an entire season? The latter has been impressive this season, but he’s only done it for six games. At this rate, he might not even get to 20 appearances, which would make any GM/head coach nervous. Pair that with a goalie coming off an entire season off, and you’re playing with fire. Still, the Blackhawks will have to make a decision one way or another in six weeks.