McCrimmon Confirms Brossoit and Thompson Will Be Golden Knights Tandem

On Thursday, during his media availability that welcomed the arrival of Phil Kessel, Vegas Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon confirmed that the team would be starting the season with the tandem of Laurent Brossoit and Logan Thompson in goal.

Lehner’s Status

On August 11, it was announced that Golden Knights starting goaltender Robin Lehner would miss the entirety of the 2022-23 season with a hip injury. McCrimmon announced that Lehner will have double hip surgery this season and that he has already had one of his hips treated.

After his shoulder injury towards the end of the season, Lehner met with a specialist in Nashville. According to McCrimmon, the doctor highly recommended hip surgery, saying that it was unlikely that Lehner would make it through the 2022-23 season if he pushed it off.

“It is not uncommon for goaltenders that this time of injury occurs with the stress on the hips, based on the position that they play,” said McCrimmon.

Goalie Trade Market

Given the timing of Lehner’s injury, McCrimmon said it took away the option of bringing in another goaltender through both the trade market or in free agency.

“You are always aware of what the landscape is, and the timing of the injury took away the possibility for us to be involved in free agency or the trade market in a lot of aspects,” said McCrimmon.

Rumors of the Golden Knights being interested in Semyon Varlamov, Jake Allen, and Joonas Korpisalo were seemingly shut down by McCrimmon.

“It’s interesting that everyone looked and expected us to add a goalie. We just went through it internally. We like these two guys (Thompson and Brossoit)… we think these two guys have earned this and deserve this opportunity,” said McCrimmon.

Brossoit and Thompson

So all eyes are now on the tandem of Brossoit and Thompson to help the Golden Knights make it back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Brossoit, who also had offseason hip surgery, is hoping to be ready for training camp. McCrimmon didn’t indicate whether or not Brossoit would be ready for opening night. Michael Hutchinson is currently the Golden Knight’s fourth/third-string goaltender.

“Laurent is a proven NHL goaltender that has enjoyed a good career. I thought he played a lot of real good for us last year,” said McCrimmon.

The main focus for many when it comes to the Golden Knight’s upcoming season will be the play of Logan Thompson. LT, who has nothing left to prove in the AHL, now has a clear path to the NHL and could turn into the team’s starting goaltender by the end of the season.

“I think we are really excited and intrigued by Logan Thompson’s talent, upside, and competitiveness. He made a real good impression in a short sample at the end of last season,” said McCrimmon.