Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson has been trying to find veteran goaltender Laurent Brossoit a new home in the trade market for the last several weeks. On Wednesday afternoon, Davidson finally found a willing dance partner.
The Blackhawks announced that Brossoit, along with former first-round pick Nolan Allan, and a 2028 seventh-round pick, have been traded to the San Jose Sharks. Chicago received Ryan Ellis’ contract, defenseman Jake Furlong, and a 2028 fourth-round pick in exchange.
Brossoit, 32, signed a two-year deal with the Blackhawks in July 2024, but he never appeared in a single game with the team. He underwent three separate lower-body surgeries in 15 months, which kept him out of action until Dec. 5, 2025, when he played in his first game for the organization with the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL.
With Spencer Knight and Arvid Soderblom both having signed multi-year extensions with Chicago this past summer, there wasn’t any room on the big-league roster for Brossoit once he finally returned to full health. Davidson has been working the phones to get him another NHL opportunity, which he deserves. Brossoit has a 2.64 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage in his 10-year career. He’s a more-than-serviceable backup netminder.
Because Brossoit recently cleared waivers, the Sharks won’t have to keep him on their NHL roster for 30 days after acquiring him. He can immediately report to the AHL until the Sharks, if ever, want to give him the chance to back up starter Yaroslav Askarov. Alex Nedeljkovic (6-8-2, 3.07 GAA, .894 Sv%) has been in the No. 2 goaltender role for San Jose this season.
Allan, the 32nd overall pick in 2021, is joining Brossoit in San Jose in search of more NHL ice time. Something he, too, wasn’t going to receive anytime soon in Chicago.
After playing 43 NHL games in the 2024-25 season, where he recorded eight points (1G, 7A), Allan spent the entire first half of the current campaign in the AHL with Rockford. Considering the Blackhawks have Alex Vlasic and Wyatt Kaiser manning the left side of the blue line, plus Matt Grzelcyk performing well on the third pairing, there wasn’t a call-up coming for Allan. Fellow left-hand defensemen Kevin Korchinski and Ethan Del Mastro also appeared to be ahead of him in the pecking order, which left the 6-foot-2 blue-liner in no-man’s land.
Now in his third year of professional hockey, the 22-year-old still hadn’t done enough to prove to the Blackhawks organization that he’s a future puzzle piece in the rebuild. He had just two goals and four assists with a minus-two rating and 39 penalty minutes in 29 AHL games this season.
With a slew of young defensemen in the system, there were always going to be odd men out, and Allen ends up being one of them.
Here’s to wishing all the best for Brossoit and Allan in San Jose. They will both get a greater opportunity there than they would have in the Windy City.
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