Forever a New Jersey Devil. “Welcome Back” Marty Brodeur

Added by Michael DiGiacomo on July 3, 2012.

After signing a new two-year deal, Martin Brodeur is likely to end his career with the team that drafted him.

It’s been a rollercoaster ride lately for New Jersey Devils fans as we potentially could have lost the biggest name in franchise history and still a decision awaits to what Martin Brodeur calls the “future of the franchise.”

On July 1^st, Martin Brodeur hired an agent to represent him and to have discussions with other clubs around the NHL and to possibly pull another sweater over the future Hall of Fame goaltender. But what Martin Brodeur started in New Jersey, it seems likely he’s about to finish.

On the morning of July 2^nd, Devils fans received word that Marty resigned with the club that drafted him to a two-year deal that pays $9 million in total. While the news shocked a couple of people, as the understatement of the century, Lou Lamoriello was able to step up and get the job done.

“I’m really excited, really happy about being able to stay in New Jersey, that’s for sure,” Brodeur told media.

With talks of a potential lockout for the 2012-2013 season, Marty didn’t want to settle for one year and have to answer questions about retiring all over again next season. Not a lot of goalies can compete at the level Marty did this post season, and if he can mirror that effort again in 12-13, maybe the Devils can have another shot at Lord Stanley. 

The Devils raked in quite a bit of money from the 2011-12 postseason, and maybe keeping the same team intact will attract even more fans to the games for the upcoming season pending CBA results. Maybe this will be a wakeup call for a lot of Devils fans. The idea of knowing we could have lost Marty to another team could potentially put fans in the seats to witness the legend live in his potentially final two seasons in the NHL.

Brodeur not only has his own interests in mind, he has Zach’s (Parise) as well. He’s aware of the situation he’s in an is very fortunate to have a lot of people willing to help him secure is future both personally and professionally. 

Throughout the process, Marty has been in constant conversation with Parise.

“I think the Devils went to the forefront with him and I’m pretty positive that he’ll come back to us, but we’ll see” Brodeur stated.

Lou even met with Zach one last time on Sunday before news came of a press conference eventually leading to a decision that he’s made no decision yet. It seemed the Brodeur’s two in depth conversations came with general manager Brian Burke of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Stan Bowman from the Chicago Blackhawks. The reality came to be that teams were willing to give Marty what he wanted.

So, not only is the legend back in goal, but the other old timer, Johan Hedberg, resigned with the Devils as well for two years. While many teams want to lockup a young stud goaltender like a Jonathan Quick for a long time, Lou didn’t care about age. He wants players that can get the job done and Johan Hedberg is probably top three in the NHL when it comes to back up goaltenders. 

So while the Devils have a good chunk of their team still intact from last season minus Alexei Ponikarovsky, fans can breathe a little bit but the fish that’s going to win someone the boat pool, is still swimming around.

At least for now, a name synonymous with the Devils is going nowhere. “At the end of the day I’m still a Devil and I’ll be for probably the rest of my career,” said Brodeur.