It’s going to be hard to see Laurent Brossoit leave the Winnipeg Jets

The regular season for the Winnipeg Jets was outstanding when it came to goaltending. The Jets’ goaltending duo, Laurent Brossoit and Connor Hellebuyck, had the best save percentage in the NHL this season with a .923 SV%. The Florida Panthers were second in the league with a .918 SV%.

Hellebuyck will be remembered in the history books for winning the Jennings Trophy and hopefully the Vezina Trophy as well! But many Jets fans will remember Brossoit as the backup wonder who helped the Jets’ starting goaltender win two individual goaltending awards.

With his contract expiring, the Jets will need to find a new backup goaltender who can take the load off Hellebuyck, can get paid about three million a year, and accept that they won’t play more than 30 games but still win the majority of them. Looking at the pool of goaltenders who are available, it’s going to sting watching an elite backup goaltender leave the Jets.

Brossoit had the best stats in the NHL of anyone who played 20 or more games with a 15-5-2 record, 2.00 GAA, and a .927 SV%. Getting those kinds of stats from a guy who earned only 1.75 million is highway robbery. With the stellar stats he had over the regular season, I could see a team picking him up to be a 1B starter, and he could earn between 2.5-4.5 million dollars over three years depending on the situation that GM would want to put him in. I could also see him earning just another one-year contract elsewhere in the NHL.

Brossoit has won a cup, but at the age of 31, he is probably itching to be a starter for a team or, at the very least, play 30 games in a season. He can look at his own numbers and think he should be playing more and no longer be in the shadow of Hellebuyck.

With the assumption that Brossoit won’t return to Winnipeg, who can step in as the Jets’ backup? From within the organization, maybe Thomas Millic could take that step forward, but he is just 21-years-old. Young goaltenders do exist, but it will generally take goalies a few years to develop into full-time NHLers.

There is a lot of hope behind Millic who won the 2023 Memorial Cup with the Seattle Thunderbirds. This year, with the Manitoba Moose, Millic had a 19-9-2 record, a 2.00 GAA, and a .900 SV%, and one shutout. The future is bright for the Jets between the pipes, but they need to let him ripen into an NHLer.

When you look at the list of unrestricted free agent goaltenders who played between 20 and 30 games, which should be the expectations of a Jets goaltender, it’s a fairly shallow pool.

Calvin Pickard, who is currently with the Edmonton Oilers, stepped up as their backup when Jack Campbell couldn’t perform as an NHL caliber goaltender. Oilers Nation talked positively about Pickard, and they didn’t have many fears when he would step between the pipes for the Oil.

In 23 games, he had a 12-7-1 record, a 2.45 GAA, and a .909 SV%, and was consistent with a .11 Goals Saved Above Expected. The guy can make the saves you need him to. At a cap hit of 762,500 this season, Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff could get the Oilers backup this offseason for a price slightly above one million dollars.

Martin Jones from the Toronto Maple Leafs could also be a name the Jets look at this offseason. A former starter in the NHL, this season with the Leafs, he was one of three goaltenders, yet he held the best goals against average but only played 22 games. He had a .907 SV% and a 2.87 GAA, and he also stood tall making the big saves he had a 3.12 Expected Goals Against.

Jones’ AAV was only $875,000. Cheveldayoff might get a deal here with the 33-year-old goaltender where he might be able to pay less than one million dollars.

Kevin Lankinen from the Nashville Predators would be one last guy I would like to see the Jets kick the tires on. His price point might be a little higher than what the Jets want to spend as they will have around 17.5 million dollars to spend this summer.

Lankinen earned two million dollars last year and might want to maintain or slightly increase that paycheck. He had an 11-6-1 record with a 2.82 GAA, .908 SV%, added with a 3.12 xGA60. The guy also had it locked down and can stand tall. He could be a great fit with Winnipeg.