Ilya Bryzgalov Signs PTO with Anaheim Ducks

Despite promises that the only thing Ilya Bryzgalov wanted in life was to be a member of the Minnesota Wild, it appears that he’ll be rejoining the Anaheim Ducks, at least temporarily, according to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun.

Anaheim has been without rookie netminder John Gibson for a while and he isn’t expected to return until the end of December. Frederik Andersen has carried the majority of starts, but is young and untested, which was working ok when the team had veteran third-stringer Jason LaBarbera splitting starts with Andersen.

But now LaBarbera is out with a lower body injury and the team is rolling with Andersen and Igor Bobkov, who has yet to start a NHL game.

This makes the Ducks a little nervous, obviously, and with Martin Brodeur signing a one-year contract with the St. Louis Blues yesterday, that left just Bryzgalov to fill the unemployed elder statesmen-shaped hole in the Ducks’ heart.

Bryzgalov will be in Anaheim, per LeBrun’s report, on a professional tryout (PTO). If he signs, that means the Bryzness Time will have gone full circle, returning to the team he first played for in the 2001-02 season and the team he won a Stanley Cup with in 2007.

Should Bryzgalov sign, this will be his fourth team in the last three seasons, signing with Edmonton last year after he was bought out by Philadelphia, then getting traded to the Wild. He also spent camp this year as a PTO with the Wild while Darcy Kuemper was negotiating a contract and Josh Harding was out hurt.