Today, all eyes are on Jack Hughes. The New Jersey Devils superstar scored the Golden Goal for the United States on Sunday, leading to Team USA’s first gold medal at the Winter Olympics since the Miracle on Ice 46 years ago. Hughes scored in overtime, and he rightfully deserves the praise of the moment.
While Hughes is getting the headlines, Connor Hellebuyck is the reason why the Americans are winners right now. He was dominant in net, leading Team USA in so many ways.
Just in the gold medal game, he helped the United States kill a 5on3 power play, stopped both Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini on breakaways, and shut the door in 3v3 overtime to give Hughes the opportunity to score the Golden Goal.
Someone who is very familiar with big moments on both the NHL stage and the international stage is Martin Brodeur. He represented Canada at four different Olympics. He was a backup in 1998, took over as the starter in 2002 and led the Canadians to gold, played a few games in 2006, and watched as Roberto Luongo helped him get a second gold medal.
However, before that gold medal, Brodeur had already been at the top of his game. He won two Stanley Cups with the New Jersey Devils. However, Brodeur feels like he wasn’t getting the credit he deserved until he won that first gold medal in 2002.
In an op-ed for NHL.com, Brodeur claims that Olympic gold changed the way people perceived him. He points out that he won zero Vezina Trophies (the award for the best goalie of the regular season) prior to 2002, and he won four after that.
While we want to agree with Brodeur that there was a perception issue that still exists today (mostly that Brodeur was carried by the trap system and a defense that included Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer), there are other factors as to why Brodeur didn’t win the Vezina. For one, the late '90s might have been the greatest era for goaltending. The three GOATs are often listed in some order as Patrick Roy, Dominick Hasek, and Brodeur. They were all playing in the first half of Brodeur’s career.
Roy dominated the award from 1989 to 1992, and Hasek took the award almost every year from 1994 to 2001, with Olaf Kolzig and Jim Carrey sneaking wins in there in between.
Brodeur spoke about how he thought Hellebuyck would see a different perspective moving forward, and that is probably true. The reigning Vezina Trophy winner was considered a goalie who didn’t step up in big moments. Instead, he’ll be considered the man who delivered a gold medal.
"I think people see you a different way when you’re on a big stage like that and you perform. And so there's no difference for Connor. I know he's had some success before winning this, but he’d never really won, like, a major tournament or Stanley Cup or whatever.Martin Brodeur via NHL.com
Look, I know for a fact that it changes the way people see you. Not that they weren’t seeing him as one of the best goalies in hockey anyway."
Do we believe the gold medal is why Brodeur won his Vezinas? Not necessarily, but that's an easier answer than voters would just stick with the guys they voted for before. Brodeur deserved a previous Vezina, but finishing his career with four still puts him in the GOAT conversation, and the mixture of Stanley Cups and gold medals solidifies his spot.
Hellebuyck is halfway there after his performance at the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics. If he ever wants to be in the same conversation historically as Brodeur, he needs to add a Cup.