Did the Winnipeg Jets Find Their New Goaltender?
The Winnipeg Jets dumped the salary of Steve Mason to attempt to re-sign Paul Stastny. He did not return. Not only did that leave the Jets with that little center vacancy, but they are lacking a backup goaltender as well. Or are they?
The Winnipeg Jets recently signed Laurent Brossoit to a one year, $650,000 contract. I accept your apology for not knowing his Laurent Brossoit is.
Signing a backup goalie from another team seems like it would be acquiring your backup goalie. I’m not buying it. There’s one simple stat that tells you how good Laurent Brossoit was: He started ten games last season (played in 14) and allowed 40 (!!!) goals. Forty.
Brossoit was capable in just four games the year prior, but when your biggest (and most recent) sample size is a 3.24 GAA and an .883 save percentage, it’s not a great sign. Brossoit is young, he’s big, and maybe the Winnipeg Jets see something in him.
But the Jets are not a team that needs to be adding reclamation projects to the NHL team. On the farm? Sure, see if you can tweak something in Brossoit and he can be good moving forward. But an NHL contender shouldn’t be doing that.
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"The secret good thing about Laurent Brossoit, according to Bruce McCurdy, “is that his contract with the Edmonton Oilers is up.”"
I would’ve given Petr Mrazek the deal he got ($1.5mm, one year). I know he’s also kinda the reclamation guy, but he’s at least shown flashes of brilliance. Ondrej Pavelec would’ve been a better signing, even though he was mediocre with the Rangers and their goalie whisperer, Benoit Allaire.
This is a low-risk financial move for the Jets, but if they’re putting him behind Connor Hellebuyck, it’s a high-risk move. It’s also kinda low reward. What’s the best case here? He goes all Andrew Hammond? I don’t see it. I like this move for a non-contender with a solid defense, sure. However, the Jets are not that team right now.
I’m not sold this is the future backup for the Winnipeg Jets. Maybe he’s competition for Eric Comrie, and the Jets want him to seize the job. But the goalie market is thin, and therefore maybe they think they can turn Laurent Brossoit around. If anything, and perhaps most importantly, his name is fun to say.