Marty knows Henrik’s pain of uncertain future
THE franchise goalie, the franchise was being displaced. Everyone could see that. The trade deadline was approaching and for the first time, serious talk circulated about asking him to waive his no-trade clause.
“I would have waived it if I was asked,” Martin Brodeur told The Post Monday morning, for the first time revealing his thoughts leading into that 2014 deadline. “But Lou [Lamoriello] never asked me.
“For the first time, I was in the position of not playing much. I was fighting to get playing time. If there was a team that wanted me that I thought I could help win, I’d have gone.
“But it’s easy for me to say now, since I never actually had to make that decision.”
Let’s stipulate that Brodeur, who by that time had already won three Stanley Cups, is not Henrik Lundqvist. They are distinct individuals with different thought processes, different world views, and perhaps different priorities.
But if there is anyone on earth, or at least within the hockey industry, who can identify with Lundqvist’s current plight as he is eased out of the No. 1 goaltending slot on Broadway that he has filled since his rookie 2005-06 season, it is Brodeur.
If there is anyone who can understand the decision Lundqvist might have to confront if he is asked to waive his no-move clause in advance of the Feb. 24 deadline, it is the winningest goaltender in NHL history.
“I know what he’s going through,” Brodeur said before Lundqvist was pulled following the second period Monday night at the Garden after allowing four goals on 15 shots in the Rangers’ 5-3 defeat to Dallas. “When you’re an older goalie after a career of playing almost every game and suddenly you don’t get those starts, it breaks your rhythm and can play tricks with your confidence.
“Your entire approach and mentality is different. After a career of never being questioned as the No. 1, suddenly you are getting ques
tioned. You just want to play, to have the chance to [reassert] your value. I think if [Lundqvist] played 10 out of the next 13 games, he’d get back to the level he’s been for his whole career.
“But it’s hard to do that at an older age when you get one start to prove yourself every once in a while.”
Lundqvist, who’d turned in a 33save shutout in Saturday’s 1-0 victory in Detroit, was not at his best in this one behind a listless Rangers team in this back end of his first set of consecutive starts since late December. Who knows, though, when the next start will come with both Igor Shesterkin and Alex Georgiev — who played the final period Monday — lined up and ready to go?
Let’s all agree, though, that Lundqvist will not get the opportunity to start 10 of the next 13.
Brodeur, the Devils’ executive vice president of business development who has been acting as an adviser to the hockey department since GM Ray Shero was dismissed on Jan. 12, remembered a stretch in which he started two games in 31 days in 2013-14. Lundqvist had started twice since Jan. 2 before Saturday.
“Then I got a couple of starts in a row before the deadline and I know there was a lot of talk about me going, but it never came up,” Brodeur said. “I don’t know if anyone called and Lou said no.”
At this point, no team has made the call to general manager Jeff Gorton about acquiring Lundqvist. Among legit contenders, the Avalanche and Hurricanes could use a No. 1 for the playoff run. It is unknown whether the King, with one more year on his contract at an $8.5 million cap hit, would waive his no-move and go to either Denver or Raleigh if asked.
Brodeur said he had first considered leaving the Devils when he became a 40-year-old free agent after leading the team to the 2012 Cup final in a last hurrah. But he re-upped for two seasons despite receiving offers at least equal to the one from New Jersey.
“I couldn’t get myself to do it,” he said.
Two years later, though, eased out in favor of Cory Schneider, Brodeur did do it, signing on for a brief 2014-15 run with the Blues, with whom he played seven games, started five and recorded the final three of his 691 victories and the last of his 124 shutouts.
“I can’t say what’s best for Henrik,” Brodeur said. “But the one thing I know is, you want to have options. I didn’t want other people deciding for me. I’m sure he feels the same way.”