Martin Brodeur Becomes Greatest New Jersey Devils Hall Of Famer
By Nick Villano
Martin Brodeur was officially inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Tuesday. He will go down as the best candidate in New Jersey Devils history.
691 wins. 125 shutouts. 1,266 games played in net. Martin Brodeur holds the records for almost every major goalie statistic in NHL history. He even has numerous playoff records, including shutouts (24). His run with the New Jersey Devils is something we will never see again, and we need to all be happy we were along for the ride.
This is a special day for Devils fans. Sure, we’ve had previous Devils players make the Hall of Fame, but nothing like this. Scott Stevens was the first player that spent most of his career as a Devil, then went into the Hall. However, he wasn’t drafted by the Devils. He spent the first nine seasons of his career with other franchises. Scott Niedermayer was the next guy, but he left the Devils for the Anaheim Ducks and spent the final five years on the other coast.
Brodeur, on the other hand, was a Devil for life. Well, except those seven games were going to choose to ignore.
On top of that, Brodeur was the star of the show when the Devils lifted three Stanley Cups. During the 1995 season, he was the name everyone recognized. It was a lockout shortened season that was supposed to end with a Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup. Instead, Brodeur led the Devils to a sweep of the vaunted Red Wings.
In the year 2000, he was once again great. Think about this, Brodeur playing the Dallas Stars allowed eight goals in six games. That includes allowing one goal in a three overtime classic in game five. A team with Mike Modano, Brett Hull and Sergei Zubov could only muster 1.33 goals per game against Brodeur.
The funny thing is Brodeur really hit his stride after his two Stanley Cup wins. He didn’t win his first Vezina trophy until 2003. He ended up winning four of them. His trophy case is filled to the brim, with a Calder Trophy, five Jennings Trophies, and his three Cups.
Brodeur means more to the Devils than any player can in history. At a time when many teams would likely move to another city, Brodeur’s legacy kept the team in New Jersey. Despite going through a tumultuous ownership, a rapidly changing roster, and a rule that hurts his overall game, Brodeur continued to dominate.
Skip ahead to 2012, the final calling of Brodeur. With many around the league calling Brodeur washed up, he dragged the Devils all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. He didn’t post his best save percentage of goals against average, but he willed the Devils past the Flyers, Rangers and Panthers.
It’s hard to predict sports, but it’s even harder to think anything like what we’ve seen from Brodeur will ever happen again. We will see great goalies in our lifetime, maybe even some that will change the conversation for best of all time, but Brodeur was the best of a generation that doesn’t exist anymore. In 2006-07, the Devils needed to play their backup goalie in four games. That’s less than a week’s worth of games. This season, Cam Talbot led the league in games played with 67.
Devils fans, really take this in. I mean it when I say this will probably never happen again. The true greatest of all time is going into the Hall of Fame. Brodeur will get enshrined as a Devil. It will likely be a long time before we see another Devils player in the Hall. Elias has a shot, but he’s nowhere near a lock. After him, the next guy we could see in the Hall is Zach Parise or Taylor Hall. For now, enjoy having the greatest Devil enshrined in Toronto.