The New Jersey Devils will welcome back Martin Brodeur on Tuesday, February 9 to celebrate his career. The team will retire his jersey number and unveil a statue in his honor that night against the Edmonton Oilers.
The announcement was made earlier today at a press conference where the Devils also revealed a special event logo as well as the plans. The celebration is scheduled to begin on February 6 (a Saturday tilt against the Washington Capitals) with events planned throughout that weekend with Brodeur for fans and will culminate in the game against Edmonton.
Ticket packages are already on sale for Devils Membership season ticket plan holders and a small number of individual tickets will be made available to the February 9 game at a later date.
The fans who do have tickets to the game are already set to make a killing on the secondary market. On Ticketmaster’s official NHL resale site, tickets for seats in section 214 at the very top of the Prudential Center are going for $320 a seat as of 4 PM today. That is the cheapest ticket on that site. StubHub’s cheapest tickets for the game are $260 in section 212 (again in the upper reaches of the arena). With one fell swoop, the Devils made a Tuesday night game against a weak Western Conference opponent the hottest ticket of the season.
The logo that was unveiled will be featured on team merchandise available in the Devil’s Den Team Store and through the team’s website. It features a goal cage with the Devils logo at the top of the crossbar, the number “30” in the net with “Martin Brodeur underneath it. Under Marty’s name is a scroll with the words “Jersey Retirement – February 9, 2016.” Under that is “Presented by Prudential,” who are sponsoring the event.
The announcement of the statue was also a nice surprise. The statue will be sculpted by Jon Krawczyk (the same sculptor who designed the statue that currently stands in Championship Plaza outside Prudential Center) and will be the first statue commissioned specifically for one individual player. In the past, the team would never have thought to honor one player over others, no matter how great that player is/was. If any player in Devils history deserves this honor, it is Martin Brodeur.
Although the fans will mostly be local, this game is likely to be attended by people from all over North America. Marty has a huge following by hockey fans from all over the United States and Canada. People will want to be there to show their support for him on this day. Fans who cannot be there can share their memories and well wishes via Twitter @NHLDevils with the hashtag #MB30.
With festivities leading up to Marty’s jersey retirement game, the Devils will have created an entire weekend around one of their all-time greats and an NHL legend. The Devils have also created a buzz around the team right now that will hopefully carry over. With tickets in demand and fans ready to honor one of the all-time greats of the game, the team has really set itself up for a wonderful night.