Two Blackhawks To Miss Beginning of Season

The Chicago Blackhawks will have to go through training camp without two key players — No. 2 overall pick Artyom Levshunov and goaltender Laurent Brossoit are both expected to be out of action for a month. 

Davidson says Levshunov (foot) and Brossoit (meniscus) are on similar timelines and are both about four weeks away. Brossoit perhaps a bit less.

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) September 20, 2024

The immediate impact on the team in the regular season will be the absence of backup netminder Brossoit, who was signed to a two-year, $3.3 million AAV free agent deal this summer. It sounds like he could up to two weeks of the regular season which begins for the Hawks on Oct. 8th. It could encompass five or six games, for which we would expect Petr Mrazek, who started 53 games for Chicago last season, to be between the pipes.

Brossoit underwent surgery to repair the meniscus in his right knee in late August. He had a tremendous season as the backup to Connor Hellebuyck last season in Winnipeg, posting a 15-5-2 record with a .927 save percentage and a 2.00 goals against average in 22 starts. 

As for the 18-year-old Levshunov, there was a good chance he'd be starting off the season with team's AHL affiliate, the Rockford Ice Hogs, particularly after he injured his foot blocking a shot at the very beginning of camp for rookies. 

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