#22 - Laurent Brossoit

I hate to spoil the surprise, but Laurent Brossoit is the only goalie to make it into the Top 25 Under 25. I know, it's hardly worth checking in after having that bombshell dropped this early in rankings, but I thought you should know that the voters here at the Copper & Blue think Brossoit is the best goalie prospect that the Oilers have. As you can see from the rankings below there is a decent amount of agreement between our voters too. Only Jon has him outside the Top 25 and he's the top ranked goalie on everyone's list except Jon's; I'm not sure what that's all about.

Previous Rank: 23

When we last checked in with Brossoit we found him holding down the 23rd overall spot in our rankings. At that time he was still fairly new to the Oilers organization having been acquired by the Oilers in the trade with the Calgary Flames that saw Ladislav Smid move three hours south. Brossoit may have been new to the Oilers pro organization, but he was by no means new to the Oilers hockey family, or Oiler fans, having spent his junior career between the pipes for the Edmonton Oil Kings where he helped lead the team to it's first modern day appearance in the Memorial Cup.

It was that connection to the Oilers, and the team's, let's say, debatable draft history when it comes to the Oil Kings, that made a few people, myself included, question the wisdom of the trade. But that isn't a fair way to assess Brossoit as a player and the truth is he's a legitimate prospect and he deserves to be included on this list.

In his first pro season Brossoit spent the majority of his time playing in the ECHL, first with the Alaska Aces and then, after the trade, with the Condors in Bakersfield posting a 0.926 save percentage in a combined 38 appearances. In Bakersfield, his 0.923 save percentage was 43 points better than what the Condors got when anyone else was net. He was named the ECHL goalie of the week three times, was named to the rookie team, and was a second team all-star. For what it's worth, the first team all-star goalie, Jeff Jakaitis, is nearly ten years older than Brossoit.

Unfortunately that success did not translate to his brief time in the AHL, where he posted a sub 0.900 save percentage in 10 games. For a first year pro though those numbers, and the tiny sample that they're drawn from, isn't something to be too worried about. Of course it would have been nice to see him ripping the cover off the ball immediately upon arrival in Oklahoma City but he'll get a second chance to do that this season when he splits time with Richard Bachman.

With Bachman available to Barons coach Todd Nelson, Brossoit won't simply be handed starts, he's going to have to play well enough to deserve them. I tend to think goalie development is no less than 90% voodoo, but even a pessimist like me thinks Brossoit will play well enough to get those starts. And if he does I wouldn't be surprised to see him break the top 20 the next time we look at the Top 25. Unless Jon decides to keep holding him back.

Check out previous stories in the Top 25 Under 25 series in our StoryStream.