Elliott’s last NHL stint was with the Lightning in 2022-23. He wasn’t re-signed and didn’t play at all in the 2023-24 season.
Drafted by the Senators in 2003, Elliott shone at the University of Wisconsin, leading them to a national championship in 2006 and being a Hobey Baker Award finalist. After college, he turned pro with Ottawa and debuted in the NHL during the 2007-08 season.
In his first full season with Ottawa (2008-09), Elliott shared goaltending duties with Alex Auld and Martin Gerber. He posted decent stats: a 16-8-3 record, .902 save percentage (SV%), and a goals-against average (GAA) of 2.77 over 31 games.
Career Ups and Downs:
Elliott became Ottawa’s starting goalie in 2009-10 but struggled as his performance dipped significantly. By early 2011, he was traded to Colorado for Craig Anderson. The move benefited Ottawa more than Colorado since Elliott won only two out of twelve games for the Avalanche before they let him go as a free agent.
Doug Armstrong saw potential in Elliott and signed him to St. Louis on a one-year deal . Initially backing up Jaroslav Halák, Elliott soon earned equal playing time thanks to an impressive .940 SV% and a GAA of just 1.56 over 38 games that season, helping win the Jennings Trophy.
Fans might think it’s sad how quickly things changed for him after such highs.
Elliott continued strong performances with St. Louis for four more years, making numerous starts and relief appearances while maintaining excellent stats: a .925 SV%, GAA of 2.01, plus earning multiple shutouts. The Blues reached the playoffs each year he played there, including making it to the Western Conference Final in 2016 where he had a .921 SV% over 18 playoff games.
However, younger goalie Jake Allen was waiting for his chance; thus Elliott was traded to Calgary for draft picks — one becoming Jordan Kyrou — ending his successful run with St. Louis.
In Calgary, his performance started declining; though not terrible (.910 SV%), it wasn’t up to his previous standards. Moving on from Calgary led him to Philadelphia where similar middling results followed through three seasons there before joining Tampa Bay as Andrei Vasilevskiy’s backup in limited action during one above-average season (2021-22).
His final year saw another dip (.891 SV%) which led many to expect this would be his last NHL appearance at age thirty-nine .
Now likely retired from professional hockey after an extensive career: boasting records like a total of forty-five shutouts across five hundred forty-three regular-season matches alongside seventeen wins out of forty-eight playoff encounters – what do you think about Brian Elliott’s journey?
