BRODEUR KNEW HOW TO STICK IT TO HIS NHL FOES
Goaltending great from Montreal was also magician when it came to handling puck
Martin Brodeur won four Vezina trophies, but how about some Norris consideration?
“As great as he was in goal, he could be the third defenceman on the ice,” said former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Wendel Clark. “Marty changed things in the way he handled the puck. He was so mobile and that really helped his defence.
“Basically, we’d dump and chase and his defence would hold it up because he could make a pass as good as they could. He revolutionized things a bit in terms of getting it out of your end.”
You can talk about Brodeur’s 691 wins as the NHL standard, but he’ll gladly chat about ranking third all-time in assists by goalies with 45 and scoring two empty net goals to be neck-andneck in points with Grant Fuhr, who played with Wayne Gretzky, and one behind all-time leader Tom Barrasso, who played with Mario Lemieux.
Brodeur, Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer and the rest of the Devils had three Stanley Cups before the NHL introduced the trapezoid after the 2004-05 lockout to stop games from becoming “tennis matches,” in former league executive Brian Burke’s opinion.
Brodeur, a lock to make the Hockey Hall of Fame from the moment he hung up his pads in 2014-15, passed Terry Sawchuk in shutouts and Patrick Roy in wins, but secretly wanted to emulate Devils forwards like Patrik Elias and Bobby Holik.
“I just wanted to be a forward all the time,” Brodeur said with his omnipresent smile ahead of Monday’s induction. “To this day, when I play street hockey or shinny, I’ll play as a forward. Especially early on in my career, every time we had optional practice I’d play out. In 2001, before Game 7 in the Stanley Cup, I
went out and took slapshots and played with a couple of (healthy scratches). You don’t see that too often.
“Until I became a little too important, then (general manager) Lou (Lamoriello) wouldn’t let me out. I took a lot of pride in (stickhandling). I played with these guys a long time and I just knew where they were at all times. Our communication was probably the best of a tandem of goalies and defencemen you could have. I wasn’t afraid to make a mistake (with the puck), but I made a lot, trust me.”
Lamoriello called Brodeur his “prototypical Devil.”
“Marty understood the difference between the front of the sweater and the back. His ego never entered into it,” he said.
“I’d never seen anyone who loved the game more or had more fun. He had respect for his defencemen and all his teammates. I’m sure the reporters would say he was one of the most (accountable) after a game; (he’d) stay to answer all the questions.”
Before Lamoriello moved on to the Islanders from the Leafs, he and fellow executive Cliff Fletcher no doubt rehashed how Brodeur wound up a Devil in the 1990 draft. Jersey was picking 11th, but traded down with Fletcher’s Calgary Flames to switch places at 20th.
“Not only did we take Trevor Kidd, though he was a very respectable NHL prospect at the time, we traded up to do it,” said Fletcher with a sigh. “Our scouts loved Kidd so much. But I didn’t know Brodeur in his draft year, never saw him play. Obviously that was a big error on our part at the time.”
The Flames, who also gave up on Martin St. Louis, another of this year’s Hall of Fame class, merely missed out on the greatest in league history with 1,454 starts in the regular season and playoffs.
“The thing I’ve always liked about Brodeur is the more pressure in the game, the tougher the game, he seemed to react more positively,” Fletcher said. “The results of his career certainly confirm that. They were a good defensive team when you have Niedermayer and Stevens. But the better the team is, the better the goaltender has to be to make the big save to keep them in. Inevitably it’s a one-goal game and you have to make the stop on the 2-on-1. Brodeur was outstanding at that.”
Lamoriello would have been savaged had Brodeur gone anywhere else between those 11th and 20th picks, but he’d gambled on the big kid from St. Hyacinthe in the Quebec league still being on the board. The Canadiens, who employed Brodeur’s father Denis as a photographer, chose right after Calgary and took WHL winger Turner Stevenson at No. 12, though they already had Roy set in net.
“All our scouts had seen Marty, but in those days it was harder to steal a player than today when they’re scouted so much as 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds,” Lamoriello said.
“But I’ll never forget that first meeting with Marty and his representatives. I explained precisely how things were going to work from our side. Now they all want to be (in the NHL) right away, but Marty understood he was in it for the long haul and was willing to do whatever he had to.”
He did his time in the AHL and when he was ready in 1993-94, he stayed for more than 20 years and won his first Cup in 1995.
“The goalies handed down the torches in my time from Fuhr to Roy to Marty,” said Clark. “I’d have Curtis Joseph in there, too, though he didn’t get to play on those great teams.
“If you faced him in a game, Marty played the odds. He wasn’t always going down, but knew where and who everyone was and what you were going to do. He was a real thinking goalie and played at a time when their equipment probably changed the most. That helped you be taller. But he still kept his game.
“Kudos to him for his longevity.”