Time to trade Martin Brodeur?

Losing in the first round of the playoffs has become an all too common occurrence for the New Jersey Devils the last few seasons. Sure, they make the playoffs and have a great amount of success in the regular season, but bowing out in the first round has been a reality for the Devils the last three seasons.

After the Flyers eliminated the Devils in five games last night, the most surprising thing to come about is that there is some speculation courtesy of The Sporting News’ Ray Slover that if big changes are going to come to the Devils next season the first person to possibly be shown the door is future hall of famer Martin Brodeur.

GM Lou Lamoriello already has had a temper tantrum, and as architect of the Devils he is ultimately responsible not just for the team’s failure now, but where the franchise must go after this disappointment.

Changes are coming. Big changes.

And they could begin with Martin Brodeur. We must ask: Is it time for the Devils to part company with the man who carried them to three Stanley Cups and holds most of the NHL’s goaltending records?

That’s a mighty big can of worms to go opening up while Devils fans are sore as hell about losing. If you’re thinking that the Devils lost their series to the Flyers because of Brodeur, then perhaps some perspective is needed. The number of goals scored by the Devils in the series: Nine, and five of those were in the Devils Game 2 victory.

New Jersey Devils’ goalie Martin Brodeur (30) waves to the fans while being honored during a pre-game ceremony before his teams NHL hockey game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. Friday, April 3, 2009. Brodeur passed Patrick Roy, and established a new National Hockey League record, with his 552nd career regular-season victory. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)

AP

Is this the right climate to sell high on Martin Brodeur though? Ah, there’s the rub, especially with players like Evgeni Nabokov and Marty Turco destined for unrestricted free agency this summer. Finding a good goaltender via free agency, while definitely risky, can be done. The catch though for Lou Lamoriello if he was to think of moving Martin Brodeur is that some teams might want to roll the dice with a younger (Brodeur turns 38 in May) more easily accessible guy from the unrestricted free agency pile or take an even bigger risk on a restricted free agent (Jaroslav Halak or Carey Price for instance).

Getting what he might think would be an appropriate package for a Hall of Fame goaltender who can still perform at the highest level could prove difficult. All that aside, of all the people who might leave New Jersey, Brodeur is probably lowest on the list of candidates with head coach Jacques Lemaire and soon-to-be free agent Ilya Kovalchuk ranking out a bit higher.