Martin Brodeur's Dominance with the New Jersey Devils Will Be Hard to Top

Martin Brodeur will leave behind quite an NHL goaltending legacy whenever he decides to finally hang up his pads for good and heads off into the Hall of Fame years from now.

The all-time NHL leader in games, wins, and shutouts, the Montreal native is in the twilight of a storied career that has seen him garner four Vezina Trophies, three Stanley Cups, two Olympic gold medals, and a Calder Trophy, along with a host of other accolades.

The only thing he has not claimed is a Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP—although the argument could be made he deserved to win it in 2003 when the Devils won their last Cup and he had three shutouts in the Finals.

Brodeur's former teammate, Scott Stevens, never won a Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman—so not having a Conn Smythe in his cupboard won’t seriously damage Brodeur’s career achievements (even if Patrick Roy won three of them).

Brodeur's statistical benchmarks of over 1,100 games, 650 wins and 115 shutouts, will likely take others a long time to break, if ever. Here are several reasons why.

He Has Played a Lot

Except for some recent injury-filled campaigns, Brodeur has usually started at least 70 games per season for the Devils. Most recently, he played in 77 games in 2009-10.

That’s a lot of opportunities to rack up minutes, victories, and whitewashes. He has also posted 13 seasons with at least 30 wins, and eight seasons with at least 40 wins, including a 48-win ledger in 2006-07.

He Is Durable

Brodeur never really suffered a serious injury until 2008-09, when a tear in a biceps tendon forced him to miss all but 31 regular-season contests.

He had some health concerns in recent winters, and at 39, he is no spring chicken, but he has already played in 46 games this year, with one month left in the regular season.

He Started Young

Drafted in 1990 at age 18, Brodeur made his NHL debut during the 1991-92 campaign. Following some minor-league duty, he has been in New Jersey to stay since the 1993-94 season when he backstopped the Devils to within a goal of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Excluding the lockout campaign of 2004-05, which robbed him of potential wins and shutouts, he is now in his 18th full season, that includes 181 playoff games and 23 post-season shutouts.

Superlative Skills

Naysayers claim that a cigar-store Indian could have tended net for the Devils during their championship years behind the defense they had and the trap they played—but there are other reasons why Brodeur was a first-round NHL draft choice, and how he racked up his career numbers.

He skates well, and his hybrid approach of a stand-up style combined with the butterfly has been effective. He still has a very good glove hand, and the main reason why the trapezoid is now a fixture behind NHL nets is because of Brodeur’s puck handling prowess, which has also garnered him two career goals and over 50 assists.

All Alone Back There

For the most part, except for early on in his career when he platooned with Chris Terreri, Brodeur has been the Devils’ undisputed No. 1 goalie.

Backups in New Jersey have known that they were going to ride the pine behind St. Martin, which is probably why there have been so many of them over the years, including Mike Dunham, John Vanbiesbrouck, Corey Schwab, Kevin Weekes, Yann Danis, and a score of others up to Johan Hedberg.

Former Devils goaltender Scott Clemmensen remarked several years ago in The Star-Ledger that there was no such thing as a goaltending prospect in the organization so long as Brodeur was around.

That hasn't really changed.

Mental Makeup

A seven-time All-Star, Brodeur never seems to let things bother him psychologically.

There have been some disappointments along the way, to be sure, like the 2001 Finals loss to Colorado, or his recent spate of injuries—but Brodeur never seems to get crushed when things don't go well for him.

He just keeps bouncing back.

Staying in Place

Coupled with the fact that he has had the Devils’ crease virtually all to himself all these years, Brodeur has likely also benefited from staying in one place in his career. He has never had to pack up and go to another team, or start over in a new city, or fight for the No. 1 job. That familiarity has to have helped.

Not Done Yet

Even though he is obviously closer to the end of his career, and he can’t really steal games by himself anymore, No. 30 has still shown flashes of brilliance this year in helping get the Devils back into the playoff picture.

Included in Brodeur's mini-renaissance of sorts, was a 25-save effort in a 4-1 win over local rival and league-leading New York Rangers at the Prudential Center on March 6.

A 10-time All-Star selection, Brodeur is just one win short of 100 playoff victories. His contract may expire at the end of the 2011-12 season, but he has talked as if he may not necessarily retire when the current campaign comes to a close.

That is probably not what any Devils minor-league goalie may want to hear, but don’t be surprised if Brodeur is around to keep on adding to his own record-breaking figures next fall.