Is Martin Brodeur's Return to New Jersey Inevitable After NHL Legend Retires?

It’s a pretty common script, really: A star hockey player is finally overtaken by Father Time, decides to retire and then joins the team he once played for in a front-office capacity instead of on the ice. What makes this version atypical is that for Martin Brodeur the team in question is the St. Louis Blues rather than the New Jersey Devils.  

On Tuesday, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston broke the news that Brodeur would shortly announce his retirement to take up a position in the Blues’ front office:

As Johnston noted in his piece, there’s undoubtedly going to be a certain amount of surprise that Brodeur has chosen the Blues instead of the Devils as the place where his off-ice career starts. According to New Jersey general manager Lou Lamoriello, however, it’s an extremely natural move for the future Hall-of-Famer.

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“He's going to be traveling with the team and staying with the team,” Lamoriello told NJ.com’s Rich Chere. “It keeps him as close to playing for the rest of this year as he can get. He's doing this because he made that commitment there this year. There is no disrespect (to the Devils) whatsoever.”

Lamoriello added that Brodeur had been in contact with his longtime NHL team before making this decision and told Chere that Brodeur would “be back with the Devils” at some point, all of which suggests that this stop in St. Louis is a temporary one rather than a long-term move for a player whose only natural home seems to be New Jersey.

And while the decision to stay in St. Louis at least until the end of the year may anger some fans who want to see Brodeur return to the Devils immediately, it shouldn’t. Nor should his decision to try and eke out one more year with the Blues rather than retire a Devil.

There is always a desire to see a storybook ending to a career as distinguished as Brodeur’s. One possible ending would have been for Brodeur to announce his retirement last summer and subsequently move immediately into the Devils’ front office; that way the fans in New Jersey could have given his career a proper send-off, and his record would be untainted by association with another NHL team.

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But really, Devils fans had their chance to say goodbye; they knew Brodeur wouldn’t be returning to New Jersey at the end of last season. Brodeur’s seven games in St. Louis do nothing to invalidate his 1,464 career regular-season and playoff contests with the Devils, and there’s nothing more natural than for an elite athlete to squeeze as much time out of his career as he possibly can.

And from a management standpoint, Brodeur’s time in St. Louis should do nothing but ease his expected eventual return to New Jersey.  

Consider that Brodeur has spent almost his whole career with the Devils. Lamoriello’s been the brilliant GM of a model organization over his career; Brodeur’s seen that firsthand, has familiarity with it and will certainly have the opportunity to learn more about how Lamoriello operates.

What time in St. Louis should give him is a different perspective. Ken Hitchcock has had a long and distinguished coaching career; watching him manage his team can’t hurt, especially if the Blues go on a long playoff run. Hobnobbing with people like Doug Armstrong, Dave Taylor and Larry Pleau can’t hurt, either; give or take signing the odd goalie who was past his expiration date, they’ve run a remarkably competent outfit.

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The one-team storyline would have been exceptionally rare and pretty great, but it’s not like the Devils are getting shortchanged here. If, as expected, Brodeur returns to New Jersey next season, the Devils will be getting a better-rounded candidate than they would have if they’d hired him last summer.

And even if he stays in St. Louis, that doesn’t in any way lessen the value of his career or connection to New Jersey. Three championships, four Vezina Trophies and an association spanning more than two decades are not so easily diminished. 

Statistics courtesy of NHL.com. 

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