We are less than an hour into free agency and there is already huge news regarding two players the Winnipeg Jets let go to free agency.
Those two players are Tucker Poolman and Laurent Brossoit. Both players were pending unrestricted free agents going into today and the Jets front office decided not to resign these players. There was no indication if the Jets tried too to resign them.
Both Poolman and Brossoit have signed contracts with different franchises in the early part of free agency.
These two players will now apply their trade for Western Conference opponents of the Winnipeg Jets
According to SportsNet, Tucker Poolman has signed with the Vancouver Canucks on a four-year contract with an average annual value (“AAV”) of $2,500,000. While Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) has reported that the Vegas Golden Knights have signed Laurent Brossoit to a two-year deal that carries an AAV of $2,325,000.
After the Jets have acquired defensemen Brenden Dillon and Nate Schmidt, and do not have much cap space to play with, it should come as no surprise that Winnipeg decided to not resign Poolman.
The twenty-eight-year-old, Poolman appeared in 39 games last year for the Jets and only registered one point. As I have stated a couple of times, Winnipeg has shown throughout last season that they can win without Poolman and there was generally no reason for the Jets to resign him especially now with Dillon and Schmidt coming into the squad.
On the other hand, the Jets are losing a solid goaltender in Brossoit. The Port Alberni native was outstanding in his backup role posting a 6-6-0 record with a 2.42 goals against average, and a .918 save percentage.
Brossoit has shown his worth over the past three seasons with the Winnipeg Jets and Vegas was able to give him a substantial contract raise this offseason. Brossoit looks set to be the Golden Knights’ backup after Marc-Andre Fleury was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks yesterday.
As more rumors come in through free agency and more signings are made, stay tuned to our site for all your Winnipeg Jets offseason news!
Winnipeg Jets Fans: Do you think the Winnipeg Jets should have resigned Poolman and/or Brossoit? Leave your comments below!
*All Stats Provided by the NHL*