Brodeur Signs Three-Year Deal with Blues

Martin Brodeur has signed a three-year deal to become the Assistant General Manager of the St. Louis Blues. The deal was announced Wednesday, May 20 by Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong.

As you will recall, Brodeur originally signed with St. Louis on December 2 of last year and played in seven games for the team, finishing with a 3-3-0 record when he decided to retire from active NHL play on January 29, 2015. He then became the Blues’ Senior Advisor to the General Manager.

The article on the news from the Blues’ website lists all of Brodeur’s accomplishments: regular season wins leader (691), shutouts (125), games played (1,266) and minutes played (74,438) split between the Devils and Blues. His accomplishments which all came with New Jersey include:  most starts in postseason history (204), postseason shutouts (24), and second most wins in the postseason (113), 10 NHL All-Star Game appearances, nine-time NHL regular season wins leader, five time NHL regular season shutout leader, six time NHL regular season games played leader and appearing in 70 or more games in 10 consecutive seasons (1997-98 to 2007-08). He also won the 1994 Calder Trophy, the 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008 Vezina Trophy, the Jennings Trophy (1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2010) and the Stanley Cup (1995, 2000, 2003). In addition he won two Olympic Gold Medals with Team Canada in 2002 and 2010.

That the majority of that success came in New Jersey is why Devils fans should not panic. He will be back to have his number retired, that is without question. The Blues will most likely give him a chance to attend reunions of championship teams (much as they did for this year’s 20th anniversary of the 1995 Cup Champions reunion). It is not really a big deal that he is working in the front office for another team. When you consider that the great Detroit Red Wing, Steve Yzerman is currently General Manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, you can see that after retirement, players tend to go where the job openings are, should they want to remain in the game. As another example, New York Islander great Denis Potvin works TV for the Florida Panthers, a team that did not even exist during his playing career. Granted, in regards to Yzerman, he cut his teeth with Detroit’s front office before moving to Tampa, but maybe Brodeur will return to the Devils after getting his feet wet with the Blues’ front office. After a first round exit in this year’s playoffs, Brodeur and the Blues front office will have a lot on their plate going into the draft and free agency. This will really put Marty to the test and allow him to see, up close the inner-workings of an NHL front office.

No matter what, this is a great moment for Brodeur’s career. He is getting to try his hand at something he loves without the pressure of working for the franchise where he is considered a legend. Hopefully, most Devils fans feel the same way and can join me in wishing him the best of luck as he gets started on this new chapter of his career in St. Louis.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *