Asking the question “is this Marty Brodeur’s final year?” isn’t something most Devils fans want to even think about. But that doesn’t mean the netminder hasn’t been thinking about it himself. The truth is that Brodeur has been saying for a while that he was going to play out his current contract and make a decision on his future after the deal expired. Newsflash: that six-year deal that he signed before the 2006-07 deal only has a single year on it. It’s time for the Devils faithful to face that uncomfortable reality—the Brodeur era in New Jersey is eventually going to end.
By no means has Brodeur announced anything specifically about his future plans. He has, however, publically acknowledged that retirement is something he considers nowadays. On the first day of training camp for the Devils, Brodeur spoke to Tom Gulitti of the Fire and Ice blog about his future:
“It’s been a few years that I know it’s going to happen eventually. Now, it’s the last year of the contract, so we’ll see. But it doesn’t change my approach at all mentally about anything. You just go through it and you have different feelings about different things and I’m looking forward to playing and having fun this year and we’ll see.”
(snip)
“Whenever I’m going to be ready to make a decision, I’ll make a decision,” he said. “It doesn’t mean it’s going to be now. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be in the middle of the season. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be at the end. I’ll listen to everything, but it’s going to be what I’m at peace with when the time comes. I could be the one asking them. Who knows? I’ll see how the season is going to go and how I’m going to feel and how everything pans out.”
Apparently, Brodeur has already started doing his due diligence on the retirement front. Over and over, we hear about guys who voluntarily step away from the game—only to miss the competition and camaraderie once they’re on the outside looking in. Brodeur revealed that he’s asking around make sure he isn’t in the same boat when he finally retires.
“I’ve talked to a lot of guys that retired just to see how it feels because I know I’m coming close to it, so I want to make sure I make the right decision and won’t regret it either,” he explained. “I don’t want to jump the gun too quick then regret it a year [later].”
It’s no secret that last season was a struggle for the New Jersey Devils and the legendary netminder was no exception. His 2.45 goals against average as 14th in the league; but his mediocre .903 save percentage was 35th in the NHL. Those aren’t the type of numbers that people have come to expect in Newark and it’s certainly not what people expect from a goaltender that is playing on a $31.5 million contract.
Here’s the part of the situation that has the potential to get messy. What if Brodeur decides that he wants to come back for another year even though his game continues to slip this season? There’s no way his numbers last season warranted a $5.3 million cap hit. But after all Brodeur has given to the organization, would they be obligated to keep him around as long as he wants to play? After all, it’s not like the Devils have a budding superstar waiting for his chance.
That’s a question Lou Lamoriello and the Devils won’t have to worry about for at least seven more months. Who knows? Maybe Brodeur will make the decision for them.
