‘I want another kick at it’: Brossoit returns to Jets hungry for more success

WINNIPEG — Laurent Brossoit has never been shy about expressing his desire for more.

So when he was asked about why signing a one-year deal worth $1.75 million with the Winnipeg Jets made sense for him at this stage of his career, Brossoit listened intently to the options listed by the reporter, then added his own personal touch to put a tidy bow on his answer.

Are you betting on yourself?

Was it a matter of knowing more money is coming into the system, given the expected and projected rise for the salary cap over the next two years?

Or was it simply related more to finally achieving your goal of being a full-time starter?

“You kind of hit it on the head there,” Brossoit said on a Zoom call Tuesday afternoon. “I think I showed a lot of people what I can do, showed myself what I can do this past year. But everyone wants to see a little more of that, a full season. I want to come in and have a full, healthy, strong season and show everyone what I can do — and that I can be put into the situation that I’ve always felt I can achieve.

“That bona fide starting position, and that’s kind of the goal — and I don’t really want to wait longer than one year after this for that. That’s my goal for this season, to prove to Winnipeg and to prove to everyone and anyone who would value me that I can be one of the best (goalies) in the league.”

If you don’t know Brossoit — or the rocky road he’s taken in returning to the Jets for a second tour of duty — you’d think his words, on the surface, portray a false bravado.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Given the health challenges he’s overcome and the numerous roadblocks he’s had to carefully manoeuvre his way around and occasionally power right through, Brossoit couldn't be more appreciative of the journey he’s taken.

And without his unwavering belief in himself, who knows how things would have turned out or if he would have reached this point.

When he inked a one-year, one-way deal with the Jets the first time around, Brossoit was mostly an under-the-radar addition who was simply looking for an opportunity to establish himself as an NHL regular and had to beat out Eric Comrie to earn the backup job.

Now he’s a Stanley Cup champion, having started the first eight Stanley Cup playoff games for the Vegas Golden Knights in the spring before a groin injury in Game 3 against the Edmonton Oilers sidelined him for the duration.

That won’t prevent him from getting his name engraved on the Stanley Cup, nor has it curbed his desire to get to the top of the mountain again.

“It was pretty special. It goes by so fast, I would say,” said Brossoit. “You dream about it your whole life and then all of a sudden, it’s gone in the blink of an eye. It’s towels in your face for when you’re lifting it. The camera guy falls over and then, all of a sudden, it’s over.

“I want another kick at it, not because of the towel in the face, but because I want to be the guy in the net at the end of it. Not that I didn’t enjoy it. I soaked it up. But there’s definitely some room there for extra satisfaction.”

Make no mistake, Brossoit enjoyed the wild ride that ended with a 9-3 victory in Game 5 against the Florida Panthers.

This just wasn’t the ending he’d envisioned as he’d worked so hard to earn the starting job down the stretch and into the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Jets and Oilers.

“I was a part of the team that won the Stanley Cup. But the way it shook out, it doesn’t feel like that craving’s really been fully satisfied. Maybe partly. It was a great experience. It definitely made me hungrier to be a bigger part of another Stanley Cup win,” said Brossoit.

“I would say, from the beginning of the season, there were a lot of ups and downs. Being back in the minors at this stage of my career took a little bit of getting used to. Putting the ego aside and still trying to make the most of my time down there, I was proud of the way that I handled that. By the time I got up and had some success, and then a small injury, and then some success. The last injury, it just felt like I was already kind of battle-tested mentally, so it didn’t feel any different. It didn’t break me or anything like that. I was pretty happy with the development of my mental game this past year.”

Don’t underestimate the value of Brossoit’s health either.

“Since the two surgeries, I have a new — I would say — the left hip. It was kind of always inactive. Having that wake up because of those surgeries was a huge step forward in my physiological game,” said Brossoit, who went under the knife to repair his left hip, then later had an abdominal procedure. “I was able to start working on things that I’ve always wanted to work on, little details in the game that I had to just play without. It feels like my game is getting more complete. I’m excited to have a full summer of actually training instead of going from two surgeries right into a season.

“It’s not easy to get back to game shape mid-season. It’s easier to do that in the summer, then maintain all year. I’m excited to do that this summer and come in strong. I even proved to myself how good I can be with a complete body, so I’m really excited to see what I can do this year.”

Earlier in the discussion, Brossoit shared some insight on the strange situation in the Golden Knights' crease, from his somewhat humbling stint in the American Hockey League with the Henderson Silver Knights to the five goalies who picked up at least a victory for the parent club this season — Adin Hill, Logan Thompson (who participated in the NHL All-Star Game before he suffered a season-ending injury), Jonathan Quick and Jori Lehtera.

“It was cool. It honestly was. It was a very healthy relationship, I’d say. Quick was spearheading us, he played a really good leadership role. He put his ego aside immediately when he wasn’t getting a starting role, but he’s a legend on and off the ice,” Brossoit said of the now-three-time Stanley Cup champion. “I am very grateful I got to spend some time with him, because he is truly world-class. He handled everything the right way, and so did the other guys, so we were kind of cheering each other on.

“It was a unique situation, where a lot of the time two guys were rehabbing where one of the other guys was playing. So, it’s not like we were all sitting there healthy, trying to have this big battle for the starting job. But, rather, we were kind of passing the baton every so often; it was really unique. We got really close from that, but we weren’t really all together at once. Maybe one guy was on a rehab schedule off to the side, but we all got to share a small amount of time together. But we’ll look back and it will be one of the more interesting years that we’ve had.”

As for his role with the Jets this fall, Brossoit wasn’t ready to toss out any bold predictions for how many starts he might make.

He realizes that unless something changes and Connor Hellebuyck is traded, he’s going into the season second on the depth chart.

That doesn’t mean he plans to fade into the sunset and simply sit around and hope for 20-to-25 starts either, since healthy competition can be a two-way street in this instance.

“I can’t say it’s been discussed. I was only signed a couple days ago,” said Brossoit, answering a question about how he viewed his place in the pecking order. “It’s just, from my own perspective, I see opportunity. I’m going to push Helly. He’s obviously the guy that has been trusted there for a long time and he’s a good friend of mine, but I’m going to push him like I did when I was here last.

“Hopefully, we can both be better for it and have the strongest tandem in the league, and the (more) opportunity I can earn, the better.”

When he spoke to reporters on July 1, Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said it was too early to tell how many starts goalie coach Wade Flaherty might have in mind for Brossoit.

Without saying it, you can be certain the Jets recognize it has to be more than the 18 starts and 21 appearances David Rittich made last season when Hellebuyck started 69 games, including the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“We’ll see how it plays out. I don’t know if Flats will have a specific chart plan yet,” said Cheveldayoff. “Obviously, LB is someone that can play more games, and hopefully we will benefit from that.”

There’s no doubt Brossoit was happy to have bragging rights after knocking the Jets out of the playoffs in the first round, but he also has a deep appreciation for what Hellebuyck brings to the table.

"Connor, he's probably one of the smartest goalies. He's very meticulous,” said Brossoit, who went 7-0-3 with a 2.17 goals-against average and .927 save percentage for the Golden Knights after he was recalled from the AHL. “He's very methodical in what he does and he probably has the best hands in the league. He tracks the puck better than anyone, I would say. On an open shot, it's really tough to beat him, the way he plays. He's very big and he uses his size but he doesn't over-move very often. He stays within his crease that would be frustrating for teams that like to go east-west because he doesn't have a far distance to go. 

“He's got a template that's been working for a long time, too. There's a lot of goalies that have to tweak their game, but he just kind of found it really early in his career, so that bred a lot of consistency too, which is obviously a big part of the reason why he's been so successful." 

Brossoit, 30, is more than just an insurance policy for the Jets, and he shared an optimistic outlook on the group when asked about the combination of familiar faces and new blood that’s been brought in.

“The story, especially now that I’ve been away from the organization for a couple years, the story with Winnipeg is that they’re very threatening. They have that high-powered offence, and then (have) a guy like Hellebuyck in net,” said Brossoit. “We were pretty nervous in the first round playing Winnipeg. They can always turn it up and score seven on you if they’re feeling it. There are so many good pieces, the knock has just been the consistency.

“If we can find that, find some cohesion throughout the year, and find a way that works for us that allows us to have a consistent structure to our game — anything can happen. There’s no question we have the personnel. We have good enough players for it (to happen).”