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9th Level #3: Martin Brodeur

Nasty_Magician

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2010-2011 saw Brodeur post the first losing season of his career (23-26-3) and his lowest save percentage (.903) since 94-95 (.902). It was really 2 separate season that gave us those numbers.

Marty, like just about everyone else on the Devils, was a Jekyll and Hyde situation last season. The 2010 half of the season was, well it was ugly. Really ugly. In the 26 games played in 2010 he managed to win a whopping 5 games. In those 26 games he allowed 3 or more goals in 16 of them. He had a save percentage of .876 prior to the New Year. Regardless of how awful the rest of the team was, your goaltender can not put up these types of numbers. A sub .900 save percentage is unacceptable for a starting goaltender. Lack of goal scoring can be attributed to a loss here and there, as well as poor defensive play, but when you allow 3 goals or more in over 60% of your starts the bulk of the blame rests on you. If these first half stats tell us anything, it is that this team cannot rely on Marty to single handedly win games for them.

2011 saw a completely different player and team. He more than tripled in his win total with 18 in just 4 more games (30 in 2011). His save percentage jumped nearly 40 points to .911. The most impressive stretch of the season was from January 9th – March 15th, and 18 game span which saw Marty post a 15-2-1 record and a save percentage of .927. Again it is tough to say how much of this turnaround was due to the team and how much of the teams turnaround was based on Marty’s play.

The fact that he played in less than 70 games for the first time since 96-97 (with the exception of the injury shortened 08-09 season) does not appear to have any glaring impact on his stats. The regular season stats don’t show a negative trend, and if you eliminate the first half of last season he is still putting up the same numbers. Here are his stats since the lockout:

Year GP W L OTL Sv% GAA
05-06 73 43 23 7 .911 2.57
06-07 78 48 23 7 .922 2.18
07-08 77 44 27 6 .920 2.17
08-09 31 19 9 3 .916 2.41
09-10 77 45 25 6 .916 2.24
10-11 56 23 26 3 .903 2.45

If we take a look at this playoff numbers from the past 3 playoff appearances there is a little more debate.

Year GP W L Sv% GAA
07-08 5 1 4 .891 3.19
08-09 7 3 4 .929 2.39
09-10 5 1 4 .881 3.01

The stats against the Rangers and Flyers in the playoffs are equally awful. He simply has to be better than he has been if we expect to make a deep playoff run. The numbers against the Hurricane’s don’t look as terrible until you consider the fact that he let in 4 goals in 3 of those losses. You cannot be giving games away like that in the playoffs. It’s tough to say if this is truly due to fatigue or if is a mental thing. I personally believe that he has shown enough to let us know he still has it, but that has not transitioned to the postseason. In my opinion he should not be starting more than 65 games next year.

This is the final year of Brodeur’s contract. None of us are sure if he is retiring or if he plans to continue with the team. If he does in fact continue with the team I’m curious as to what his asking price will be (Currently make $5.2 million). I would imagine he will take a pay cut in order to help the team out as he has stated in the past that the only stat he cares about are wins. If this is his final season however, he seems too competitive to go out on a sour note and I expect to see him at the top of his game this season. We need him 100% come playoff time. I think we have the talent to win close games, Marty just can’t give games away as he has been prone to do in the recent past. As long as he keeps his head in the game he still has the skill set to be a top goaltender is this league.
 
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Nasty_Magician

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I'll probably add a few more things throughout the weekend.
 

MCDevils

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great write up!

Regarding the retirement. I never really thought he'd be able to retire on top, since he always wanted to play every game. However, it was pretty mindblowing to see him basically pull himself during this past season when Hedberg was playing way better. The question is can marty pull off numbers like you listed again during that light's out stretch. I hope so. Finally, I hope Marty's comfortable with Hedberg as a backup so he can share the workload.

If he played again I bet he'd take a pay cut.

Also, I think the turnaround was a combination of the defense not being ECHL bad and Marty playing better.
 
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devils30mb

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Great write up Magician.

Like you, I think Marty is going to have a great year this year. I'll admit I'm a little bias here with Marty since I have idolized Marty from growing up being a goalie myself.

Also I could see Marty take a pay cut to come back for another year or two, but his part in it would have to be a backup and mentoring position for the new goalie to take over his throne.
 
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DevilishWon

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Great job Magician...you forgot to mention that since he's put the tean 1st by dumping the MB30 he'll probably have more wins........

:deadhorse:
 
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