It is hard to imagine that the question above would ever be asked about one of the game's greatest goaltenders. However, given that the Devils and 38-year-old franchise goaltender Martin Brodeur are currently dead last in the entire NHL, it is a question worth considering.
Obviously, the 10-26-2 Devils cannot place all of the blame on their future Hall of Fame netminder. With that said, Brodeur clearly has looked uncomfortable in goal for the Devils this season.
In 26 games, Brodeur is 5-18-1 with a 3.15 goals against average, three shutouts and a .882 save percentage. While the shutouts are a good number to look at, both the goals against average and save percentage statistics are eye-popping.
When it comes to Brodeur, hockey pundits and fans alike are used to seeing his goals against in the low to mid 2.00's and his save percentage closer to 92 percent. Things have just been different for Brodeur this season.
Brodeur is not making the saves that he would usually stop, he is getting pulled far more than he ever has in his career and obviously, he is not getting the defensive support that he has been accustomed to getting throughout his illustrious career.
With all of this in mind, one has to wonder how much Brodeur has left in the tank. Would team general manager Lou Lamoriello ever consider trading Brodeur to get some help for the future? Would Brodeur even want to leave New Jersey?
As long as the Devils and Brodeur keep struggling, these are questions that going to get asked constantly. How long will Brodeur and the Devils be able to put up with it?
Photo credit: Getty Images
Obviously, the 10-26-2 Devils cannot place all of the blame on their future Hall of Fame netminder. With that said, Brodeur clearly has looked uncomfortable in goal for the Devils this season.
In 26 games, Brodeur is 5-18-1 with a 3.15 goals against average, three shutouts and a .882 save percentage. While the shutouts are a good number to look at, both the goals against average and save percentage statistics are eye-popping.
When it comes to Brodeur, hockey pundits and fans alike are used to seeing his goals against in the low to mid 2.00's and his save percentage closer to 92 percent. Things have just been different for Brodeur this season.
Brodeur is not making the saves that he would usually stop, he is getting pulled far more than he ever has in his career and obviously, he is not getting the defensive support that he has been accustomed to getting throughout his illustrious career.
With all of this in mind, one has to wonder how much Brodeur has left in the tank. Would team general manager Lou Lamoriello ever consider trading Brodeur to get some help for the future? Would Brodeur even want to leave New Jersey?
As long as the Devils and Brodeur keep struggling, these are questions that going to get asked constantly. How long will Brodeur and the Devils be able to put up with it?
Photo credit: Getty Images
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4 comments:
He has Plenty left. You just don't lose his kind of talent overnight. He cannot stop everything when the "defense" hangs him out to dry. don't be so quick to even think of writing him off?
I'm not sure why everyone is so surprised by his decline as if it just happened this year. Remember folks, he started the Olympics as Canada's first choice goaltender and ended up having to be pulled in favor of Luongo who never let the starting spot go. I think w/ Brodeur you have a good goalie who is having the shine knocked off of his legacy and maybe proving that NJ's success had more to do with it's mind numbingly boring, suffocating defensive trap than people realized. He said it himself this year that he was more used to 14 save shutouts. I think he's been over-rated thru the years and that Patrick Roy, who earned his numbers in the high flying 80's and early 90's is still the superior goalie, if one cares to look deeper at the numbers that simply seeing who holds certain records.
If you watch Brodeur play, he doesn't make "reaction"saves anymore, he hasn't since before last year. His positioning and anticiaption are there, which is where the spectaular gloves saves come from, but his raw reaction time is way down compared to when he was younger.
He still has plenty to give one bad year does not make him bad he is still the greatest ever and has proved that
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