Jack LaFontaine leaves a 'piece of his heart' with Gophers after signing with Hurricanes

Jack LaFontaine went to bed the Gophers' No. 1 goaltender Saturday night, having just swept Michigan State to start the second half of the Big Ten season.

And he pretty much woke up Sunday morning as a newly minted NHL player on a Stanley Cup-contending team.

The dramatic shift saw the goalie sign with the Carolina Hurricanes in the middle of the collegiate season, becoming the first Gophers player to do so since Kyle Okposo nearly 15 years ago. LaFontaine will join the Hurricanes — tied with the Rangers for the Metropolitan Division lead entering play Monday — who were down to only two healthy goaltenders throughout all levels of their organization.

LaFontaine will make three, once the Canada native takes an 8 a.m. flight to Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday, completes his physical, figures out his work visa and starts practicing by Wednesday.

"They were explaining [this] was an opportunity that doesn't come around too often," LaFontaine said Monday afternoon during a busy last day in Minnesota. "And with the injury bug hitting the Carolina Hurricanes pretty hard, it was just something that was pretty hard to pass up."

Not only will LaFontaine make $750,000 at the NHL level this season on his one-year, entry-level contract — plus an $88,500 signing bonus — but he also will more than likely play right away, a rare situation for a goalie.

The Hurricanes have Frederik Andersen, who has played the majority of games this season, but backup Antti Raanta is out for an indefinite amount of time because of an upper-body injury. AHL goalies Eetu Makeniemi and Beck Warm are also both injured. Alex Lyon took Raanta's place this past weekend, with LaFontaine now replacing him on the taxi squad.

Such a position seemed like a distant possibility even just a couple years ago. LaFontaine fell out of favor after two seasons at Michigan and played junior hockey in the BCHL before beginning his renaissance with the Gophers in 2019-20. By the end of that COVID-shortened season, he had earned the No. 1 spot. Last year, he won the Mike Richter Award as the top goaltender in college hockey, was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award and led the team to the NCAA quarterfinals.

He considered departing for the NHL this past summer after completing his English degree but instead elected to return as a grad student for his extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic. But LaFontaine had to give up his collegiate dream with the No. 8 Gophers (12-8) for a professional one.

"The main piece to our season was to win a national championship. And for us as a team, we're going to be losing a lot of guys to the Olympics, and now I'm leaving," LaFontaine said. "… We have a lot of good players in that room that are going to get opportunities, and I know everyone's going to be ready."

LaFontaine said his backup, Justen Close, was actually the first teammate he told about his decision, to make sure he knew first how his role on the team was going to change. He also had a good moment with fellow captains Sammy Walker and Ben Meyers, who both supported his choice. He also gave new Gophers goaltending coach Brennan Poderzay a big hug when he told his coach the news, crediting him with really upping his mental and physical game this year.

Relinquishing that loyalty was not something LaFontaine took lightly.

"Minnesota is always going to be a home to me. The people here and my teammates here, they were just tremendous," he said. "It's bittersweet, obviously. I get this great opportunity, but I'm also leaving behind a little piece of my heart."