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New Jersey Devils: Comparing Martin Brodeur’s Age 37 Season To Henrik Lundqvist

By Vincent Parise

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 23: Martin Brodeur #30, Andy Greene #6 and Bryce Salvador #24 of the New Jersey Devils celebrate their 5 to 3 win over the New York Rangers in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Final during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on May 23, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 23: Martin Brodeur #30, Andy Greene #6 and Bryce Salvador #24 of the New Jersey Devils celebrate their 5 to 3 win over the New York Rangers in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Final during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on May 23, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images) /
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Martin Brodeur had an incredible year during his age-37 season.

The New York Rangers went to Igor Shesterkin in Game 3 of their playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes. That means Henrik Lundqvist‘s playoff start streak has come to an end. It was a great ride for Lundqvist as he was truly one of the greatest goaltenders who ever lived. He was a New Jersey Devils rival, but fans should be able to admit that he is one of the all-time greats. With that said, he was never close to catching Martin Brodeur.

Lundqvist just finished his age-37 season and is now 38. You can argue that he was New York’s third-best goalie in 2019-20. That simply wasn’t the case for Brodeur during his age 37 season. We all know about how he took the Devils to the Stanley Cup Final at age-40 but three years prior at 37, he was still one of the very best goalies in the NHL.

That year, he had a .916 save percentage and a 2.24 goals-against average. He won the Jennings Trophy which goes to the goaltending tandem that gives up the least amount of goals. He didn’t share it with anyone because he played in 77 of the 82 Devils games that year. That was his fifth and final Jennings Trophy in his career, which tied him with Patrick Roy for the most in NHL history.

Brodeur came in third place for the Vezina Trophy that year. He already won four of the previous six years (and had a second-place finish). Coming in third place that year was really impressive. Ryan Miller won it and Ilya Bryzgalov came in second. His eighth-place Hart Trophy finish also showed how good he was that year. Certainly not bad at all for a 37-year-old.

Related Story. Five free agents for the Devils to watch in the playoffs. light

For pretty much every year of Martin Brodeur’s career, he gave the New Jersey Devils a chance to win. It was truly special to see him be the backbone of two different Devils eras. The first one was an era built on stellar defense and then as he got older the team started to get a bit faster and more skilled upfront. We were lucky to be able to watch him play for our team and his age-37 season shows us why.

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