Ilya Bryzgalov Starting For Anaheim Once Again

Sep 22, 2014; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Minnesota Wild goalie Ilya Bryzgalov (30) warms up as he replaces Minnesota Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom (not shown) during the second period against the Winnipeg Jets at the MTS Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports /

Ilya Bryzgalov is back in the net that he hasn’t occupied since 2007

Back when they drafted Ilya Bryzgalov, Anaheim was still the ‘Mighty Ducks’ — but that’s not nearly as impressive to think about as the fact that his last start with the team was 2,559 days ago.

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That’s right — the last time we saw Bryz in net for the Ducks, it was still 2007 — November 7th, to be exact.

Not long after, he was picked up off waivers by the Arizona (then Phoenix) Coyotes, and we’ve seen him on three other teams in the time since. He’s been bought out by the Philadelphia Flyers, tried out by the Edmonton Oilers, and forgotten about by the Minnesota Wild in favor of Darcy Kuemper.

Anaheim hasn’t forgotten about their former second-round pick, though — after he was dropped from his PTO with the Wild this fall, the team picked him up to replace an injured John Gibson. They seem to have plenty of confidence in him, too, as the franchise reassigned Gibson to the AHL in favor of Bryzgalov getting to start behind star Freddie Andersen.

Andersen’s been pretty impressive this autumn, so we haven’t seen much of the Spaceman. Everyone’s been eagerly awaiting his official return, though — so when he got placed in net against the Ottawa Senators, I’m confident that I’m not the only Bryz fan who went nuts.

Hopefully, we’ll see the Bryzgalov who bailed out the Wild in the playoffs this spring and not the Bryzgalov who the Philadelphia Flyers regretted inking to the largest contract known to mankind (that is, that wasn’t awarded to Rick DiPietro).

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