Does Martin Brodeur Still Have a Future with the St. Louis Blues?

On Wednesday, word came that Martin Brodeur would be leaving the St. Louis Blues for a week, as the team had granted him what it called a “leave of absence”:

In the press release announcing the news, the Blues said that the player’s future would be addressed when he rejoined the club and added that neither the team nor the player would have any further comment on the matter at this time.

The obvious assumption is that Brodeur is contemplating retirement.

At the very least, he’s almost certainly come to the end of his time with the Blues.  

USA TODAY Sports

Brian Elliott, St. Louis’ starter whose injury in late November opened up a spot on the Blues roster, is back and playing well. Brodeur posted what was potentially his last NHL shutout with a 16-save performance on December 29, Elliott returned the next night and since then, Ken Hitchcock’s starting and backup decisions have made it abundantly clear how he sees his three goaltenders:

• January 2: Brodeur starts, Elliott backs up, Allen scratched
• January 3: Elliott starts, Allen backs up, Brodeur scratched
• January 6: Elliott starts, Allen backs up, Brodeur scratched
• January 8: Elliott starts, Allen backs up, Brodeur scratched
• January 10: Elliott starts, Allen backs up, Brodeur scratched
• January 13: Allen starts, Elliott backs up, Brodeur scratched

Brodeur hasn’t played or even dressed as the backup since starting against the Ducks on January 2, where he posted a .879 save percentage in a 4-3 loss. Sensibly, the Blues have gone back to Elliott as a starter and opted to run the 24-year-old Allen as the backup rather than the 42-year-old Brodeur.

Neither backup has been particularly good this year, but given the nearly two-decade gap in age between them, it’s not hard to figure out which of the two might still be relevant to the team next season.  

In his report on the move, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Tom Timmermann commented on speculation that Brodeur might accept a trade to another NHL city, noting that the goaltender had previously told reporters that one big change this year might be all he could handle and suggesting that he might not be interested in playing elsewhere.

That fits with comments the goaltender made before signing with the Blues. The Associated Press (via CBS New York) reported him as saying he was open to any role if it was “the right fit and in the right market.”

It’s also extremely fair to wonder if there is in fact any interest around the league in Brodeur’s services. To say he’s in decline is to understate the situation dramatically; it’s now been almost five years since the last time he was able to post even league-average results. His .899 save percentage in seven games this season behind one of the best defensive teams in the NHL tends to support the notion that he’s simply done as an NHL-level player.  

Yet, according to Andy Strickland of Fox Sports, there is a market for the veteran, and it’s up to him whether he wants to keep playing:

Barring an injury to either Elliott or Allen in the next seven days, it seems doubtful that Brodeur will play again for the Blues. The coach clearly doesn’t rate him as a better option than the other two goalies at his disposal.

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

It also seems unlikely that Brodeur will play in another NHL city. Strickland’s report notwithstanding, there really aren’t that many goaltending vacancies around the league, and there are certainly better candidates out there to fill them.

The news that Brodeur is leaving the Blues comes on the same day as the Minnesota Wild announced that it had acquired Devan Dubnyk (9-5-2, 0.916 save percentage) from the Arizona Coyotes at the negligible price of a third-round pick; at this stage in his career, Dubnyk is a vastly superior goaltender to Brodeur.

Brodeur has enjoyed a long and successful career and is generally seen as one of the best ever at his position, but he’s not what he was and hasn’t been for some time. Nobody should begrudge him his efforts to stay in the game, but the whole St. Louis experiment was ill-conceived from the start and has now run its course.   

Statistics courtesy of NHL.com. 

Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work.