Brodeur Retires As A Legend

It was a fine last kick at the can, Martin Brodeur did show that he could still win, even at 42 years old, going 3-3-0 with 1 shutout with the St. Louis Blues this season, acting as an injury replacement for Brian Elliott, but it sounds like other teams are looking to stay with the younger generation, not electing to give the future Hall of Famer one last opportunity to take in some hockey games and make a difference to a team, hopefully making a playoff run.

There's no question that Brodeur goes out as a legend in the position of goaltending, winning Stanley Cups, Olympic Gold Medals and other assorted honours and trophies, but he also goes down as one of the best players in my hockey pools as well, which is the main theme of this blog, as it were.

My own hockey pool database goes back to the 2002 season, where Brodeur finished in 3rd place overall in pool scoring, where he followed it up with back-to-back seasons in the number one spot.

The last season he finished atop the pool scoring table was the 2007 season, the first season of the selection sheet pool on the website, where he finished with 48 wins, 12 shutouts and an assist for 121 points.

After the 2007 season, he did have some struggles in the points and health department, having one more big hurrah in the 2010 season, finishing as the top goalie and 2nd overall in pool scoring, with 45 wins, 9 shutouts and 3 assists for a 111-point year, finishing behind Henrik Sedin of the Canucks that year.

Since the start of the website in the 2007 season, Brodeur had picked up the Player of the Week nod five times, but remarkably never hit double-digits for points in those mentions in the blog.

In the drafts, since 2008, it was also quite remarkable that Brodeur was never a part of a 1st place overall draft team neither.  In those years, he never belonged to a top three team in the draft either, which seems kind of strange, given the time he was around.  Sure, I have data that dates back to 2002, but I don't think I have all my pool data from back then, which would be pretty interesting to look at.

Nevertheless, there is no denying that Brodeur was a difference maker and a great player in his 24-year career, but even with trying to take another shot at playing, I don't think he will be ever remembered as a goalie that faded out into obscurity, rather a great player that lasted over decades.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.