More bad news for goaltender Laurent Brossoit

Laurent Brossoit’s time with the Chicago Blackhawks has been a nightmare, and he still hasn’t even played a game for them. After a medical update this morning, it sounds like his Blackhawks debut may never come.

The veteran goaltender was signed last summer to form a tandem with Petr Mrazek. He was coming off a great season with the Winnipeg Jets that saw him post a .927 save percentage (SV%), 2.00 goals-against average (GAA), and three shutouts in 23 games.

At the end of August, Brossoit underwent meniscus surgery and was initially scheduled only to miss five to seven weeks. However, the regular season began, and he was nowhere to be found. Eventually, he returned to practice but quickly disappeared again. It was announced in December that he had to have a second surgery on his right knee. At the time, he was said to be re-evaluated in six weeks, but he never returned to the ice.

Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson announced this morning that Brossoit had offseason hip surgery and will be out month-to-month.

“The thing that’s really difficult, outside of the hockey part, is he's just a great guy, he’s a hard-working pro,” Davidson said. “It’s not what anyone envisioned, but when you watch what he’s doing, the work he’s putting in to do everything he can to get back on the ice, you can’t ask any more from an athlete and a person you bring into the organization. He does everything he needs to do to keep this going in the right direction. Things just keep popping up. It’s unfortunate, but we’re there to fully support him and do everything we can to get him back on the ice and playing again.”

Davidson doesn’t feel the newest injury is career-threatening. He added that Brossoit is “definitely expecting” to play in the NHL again. The Blackhawks will head into the season with Spencer Knight and Arvid Soderblom as their goaltending duo.