The 2017-18 campaign has been a wild one for the Chicago Blackhawks. Set to miss the playoffs for the first time in a decade, the club’s season got just a little bit more absurd on Thursday when the goaltending reins were turned over to local accountant Scott Foster.
Designated as the team’s emergency backup, Foster was thrust into NHL game action when rookie Collin Delia went down with injury during Chicago’s tilt against Winnipeg, that after the team’s regular one-two pair of Corey Crawford and Anton Forsberg had already been bitten by the injury bug.
With Foster turning in a fine performance despite having not played competitively since 2005 — seemingly opening the door for some more comeback glory in Chicago — one of the league’s former greats decided to shoot his shot.
Former NHLer Ilya Bryzgalov, affectionately known as Mr. Universe, hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since February of 2015. He logged 465 career games with Anaheim, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Edmonton, and Minnesota, peaking with a Vezina Trophy-nominated 2009-10 effort in which he posted a .920 save percentage and eight shutouts.
Unfortunately for Bryzgalov and hockey fans at large, Delia returned to the Blackhawks’ cage on Friday and Chicago recalled young Jean-Francois Berube from the AHL as well, quashing the veteran’s dreams of a return.
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