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GDT: 3/14/09 - New Jersey @ Montreal. 7:00 PM


SatansDevils

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I'm of the opinion that Marty Brodeur is the superior player to Patrick Roy for one reason: he never forced his team to trade him because he had a bad game. He kept his team competitive year in and year out as the steady rock of a player he is, not forcing the Canadiens to trade him to the Avalanche because the coach left him in after a five goal first period.

That makes him a better human being (and teammate), not a better individual player.

Someone put it well the other day, there are a number of arguments you could make either way. I know the Roy backers will use the one game argument but it's not about who's better over one game, it's over an entire career. And Marty's longevity and puckhandling ability are two things that rarely get discussed in that context but they factor in as well. Maybe Marty didn't have as many spectacular playoff moments as Roy, but he didn't need to. He simply did what was needed to win games.

And people say Marty never took mediocre teams to the Cup like Roy which is a fallacy, those Montreal teams that won the Cup weren't mediocre. Overachieving perhaps (and in both '86 and '93 they didn't have to play the best team that season)...if anything Marty dragged mediocre teams to the playoffs the last year or two.

Edited by NJDevs26
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I'm of the opinion that Marty Brodeur is the superior player to Patrick Roy for one reason: he never forced his team to trade him because he had a bad game. He kept his team competitive year in and year out as the steady rock of a player he is, not forcing the Canadiens to trade him to the Avalanche because the coach left him in after a five goal first period. To me, that was the mark of a player giving up on a team because it wasn't an elite team anymore in his estimation. He got traded to a team that had an elite lineup lacking only a goalie. He retired because the Avalanche were starting to rebuild. He picked and chose his spots because he felt that was his right as an elite superstar, but I just feel that Marty's ability to FORCE any team he played on into the elite is the mark of a truly elite player.

I didn't want to turn a thread celebrating Brodeur's record tying victory into an argument about Roy, but what the heck...

Roy had a right to do what he did. Mario Tremblay was a rookie head coach in the opening months of his career. Even before getting his job with the Canadiens, Tremblay and Roy hated each other. Tremblay was known for taking shots at Roy in the Montreal media for quite a while before he was hired as a coach. During the first few months, they had a very rocky relationship. During an early year practice, it was reported that Tremblay shot a puck at Roy's throat which led to blows.

During that famous night at the Forum. Tremblay was trying to embarrass a man he hated. He should have pulled him after the first when he let in 5 goals. He should have pulled him after the 6th goal, or maybe the 7th, or the 8th. And I might be wrong, but I don't think he pulled him initially after the 9th goal. Roy had enough and rightfully so. He was a hero in Montreal and was made to look like a fool in front of his home fans after everything he had done for the franchise.

Can you imagine what Brodeur would do if the Devils hired someone that he already despised? Someone who Brodeur played with as a rookie and gave him a rough time when he started out in the league because he could barely speak English? Someone who was fighting with him in practice, and finally let Brodeur look like a fool in front of his own crowd. I bet Brodeur would demand a trade as well.

And he retired because the Avalanche were rebuilding? That is nonsense. The Avalanche were a top team in 2003. They still had a stacked lineup (Sakic, Forsberg, Hejduk, Tanguay, Morris, Blake, Foote, de Vries) The team added Kariya and Selanne in the off-season but for whatever reason, turned out to be a mess. The Avs probably had another Cup run in them if Roy was still there in 2004 or 2005.

Edited by devilsrule33
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I had a random thought I wanted to share...

When was the last time the Devils lost a hard fought game? By that I mean that both teams bring it and are on top of their game and the Devils just get out-dueled? It seems like when they lose it is because they get blown out or are sleepwalking through the game...

Makes me positive that this team can beat anyone in a 7 game series.

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