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Even though Laurent Brossoit has been under contract with the Blackhawks<\/a> for well over a year now, most fans probably don\u2019t know who he is. Those who do probably know him as one thing: injured.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s changing. The 32-year-old goaltender feels \u201cpretty close\u201d to game readiness at long last. He participated in one drill during Hawks team practice Monday for the first time in a long time.<\/p>\n \u201cIn terms of [my] ability to get low and do those things, it was great,\u201d Brossoit said. \u201cI was so cold, I felt terrible in the moment. But the ability to do it is good. Feeling confident in those tight areas and [facing] breakaways, that will be the next and last phase to get that back.\u201d<\/p>\n Details have been scarce about his status over the past 15 months. In an interview with the Sun-Times, he explained the timeline, which began with surgery<\/a> to address some right knee pain that popped up in August 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was supposed to be a routine meniscus [operation] that a lot of guys get \u2014 like six weeks later, you\u2019re back,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it just wasn\u2019t getting better. We scoped it again, thinking maybe there\u2019s just a bit of debris in there, and it didn\u2019t get better.\u201d<\/p>\n A few brief attempts to resume practicing were quickly halted, and Brossoit ended up missing the entire 2024-25 season \u2014 his first of two years under contract in Chicago.<\/p>\n The eight-year NHL veteran had dealt with his fair share of injury issues during stints with the Oilers, Jets and Golden Knights, but this was unprecedented. <\/p>\n The many doctors and knee specialists he consulted kept running into dead ends and getting more and more perplexed. Brossoit\u2019s belief he would ever play again wavered, and he \u201cstarted to think about other things\u201d he might do with his life.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was looking pretty bleak,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Finally, in late summer 2025, he got his right hip checked. And in it, doctors found a cam lesion \u2014 a bump on the head of his femur that was grinding down cartilage inside the joint.<\/p>\n He previously had the same problem with his left hip, which caused him back pain in 2021-22 with the Knights. After undergoing surgery to shave down the femoral head in May 2022, his back pain disappeared. He immediately suspected this was causing his knee problems, too.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we told everyone about the hip, everyone was…pretty sympathetic,\u201d Brossoit said. \u201cBut I was very excited. I was like, \u2018This makes sense. I\u2019ve been through this before, with the hip being the cause of symptoms somewhere else.\u2019 It was kind of like an aha moment.\u201d<\/p>\n He admitted it \u201cbugs him\u201d he didn\u2019t think of that possibility sooner, especially because most people \u2014 after discovering one cam lesion \u2014 go ahead and get both femoral heads shaved down. <\/p>\n He didn\u2019t feel like he had time for that in 2022, but had he done so, this recent saga might never have happened.<\/p>\n \u201cHere we are \u2014 both hips are done, and I\u2019m starting to feel better than I\u2019ve ever felt,\u201d he said. \u201cYou really don\u2019t realize how dysfunctional the hip can get. It can compensate for a long time. Now that I\u2019m starting to get certain motions and strengths within the hip…you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s how that\u2019s supposed to feel.\u2019 It takes a lot of pressure off the knee.\u201d<\/p>\n A typical recovery timeline from hip surgery for an NHL goalie is six to seven months, but Brossoit is considerably ahead of schedule right now. There\u2019s no set date for when he\u2019ll be fully cleared, but it seems possible it could be within a few weeks.<\/p>\n Then the Hawks will have to figure out what to do with him. There\u2019s no obvious spot within their depth chart, since established NHL goalies Spencer Knight and Arvid Soderblom both recently signed<\/a> multi-year contract extensions.<\/p>\n A minor-league conditioning stint followed by a trade is one conceivable way this could play out, but that\u2019s difficult to predict with certainty. After dealing with so much uncertainty for so long, though, Brossoit is fine with that.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever route for me to end up playing in the NHL looks like, I\u2019m all for it,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been in this situation before, and it\u2019s always the [outcome] you expect the least that comes to fruition. Whatever that is, I\u2019m game.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n