Official "Marty Watch" Thread

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

If Brodeur would have gotten 700 last season, I bet anything he would've retired.  I really do think that is what is keeping him going.  He is about 12-13 wins away from 700 and let's say he wins only 2 games with the Blues on 5-10 starts.  I wouldn't be shocked at all if he is in the same position next season where he is looking for a team to take in him so he can limp his way to 700.  He said it himself his aim is to get to 700.

 

I don't think he finds a taker next season.  For one, I just don't see him playing any better than he did in the last two seasons (probably worse).  For another, even if he somehow manages to be not bad, he's just old.  Who is going to want a 43-year-old goalie? 

[Neb00rs]

 

I just find it funny how people have for years been saying he is all about the team and yadda yadda but then when it is clear he is shot as a goalie defend him on his quest to inflate his stats even further.  I said a couple times last year if Brodeur would have gotten 700 wins last year he would quit, but no he must continue on his little ego trip to get to 700.  It is all about Marty and always was.

 

I suppose rather than be about himself, you think he should devote himself to being all about what DevsMan84 wants?

[DevsMan84]

Far from what he said.

 

Then he should fire his agent:

 

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=729994

[DevsMan84]

I suppose rather than be about himself, you think he should devote himself to being all about what DevsMan84 wants?

 

I said it myself I wish him well.  But if you read the article I just posted his agent said he is mainly playing to get to 700 wins and not because he really does think deep down he is a capable NHL goaltender.

 

Whatever no skin off my back to whatever team is willing to put up with his losses to give him those 12 or 13 more wins he needs.

I don't think he finds a taker next season.  For one, I just don't see him playing any better than he did in the last two seasons (probably worse).  For another, even if he somehow manages to be not bad, he's just old.  Who is going to want a 43-year-old goalie?

 

I would have said the same thing about a 42 year old goalie who is playing worse every season but here we are.

[Neb00rs]

Then he should fire his agent:

 

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=729994

 

No. Those are his agents words and opinions, not his. We have to go with what Marty said, which is that sure it'd be nice to reach 700 but he is still playing because he doesn't have closure and he is still having fun. 

 

Sure, there are over-the-top Marty supporters who go to far in wanting him to start for the Devils still - they are few but they do exist. However, then there are the fans like you, who choose to always assume the worst about Marty and even extrapolate ridiculous untruths from vague or made up information.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I said it myself I wish him well.  But if you read the article I just posted his agent said he is mainly playing to get to 700 wins and not because he really does think deep down he is a capable NHL goaltender.

 

Whatever no skin off my back to whatever team is willing to put up with his losses to give him those 12 or 13 more wins he needs.

 

I would have said the same thing about a 42 year old goalie who is playing worse every season but here we are.

 

In fairness, the article states that the 700 win thing was one reason, not THE reason.

 

Re:  your 42-year-old comment...I think he's getting this one-time shot due to the balance of his career.  If he's not good, that's a record of poor play that dates back a while.  I just can't see a team that would gloss over that to give him yet another shot.

 

If he surprises and plays well...who knows?  But I'd be very leery of signing him next season no matter what he does this season.

[DevsMan84]

No. Those are his agents words and opinions, not his. We have to go with what Marty said, which is that sure it'd be nice to reach 700 but he is still playing because he doesn't have closure and he is still having fun. 

 

Sure, there are over-the-top Marty supporters who go to far in wanting him to start for the Devils still - they are few but they do exist. However, then there are the fans like you, who choose to always assume the worst about Marty and even extrapolate ridiculous untruths from vague or made up information.

 

His agent acts on behalf of him.  If my agent was saying stuff to the press that I didn't authorize then you bet I wouldn't be happy about it one bit.

 

You are right in a sense that my views on Marty is a little biased.  I never cared much for him in his rookie season, same in 2000 and same in 2010.  Ask me who are my personal top 25 of favorite Devils players he doesn't even crack the top 20.  However, his comments, especially in the last year or 2, have been pretty telling about him and his personality.

Remember when he blamed the bad ice for his play in the Stadium Series game last year?  Not 1 other Devils player used that excuse and the Queen, who also let in 3 goals, didn't use that excuse either.  Not only that but by making that excuse he is basically saying that he was the only one playing on bad ice and was at somehow at a disadvantage.  That's Marty in a nutshell, especially of the last 3-4 years.

[Neb00rs]

I said it myself I wish him well.  But if you read the article I just posted his agent said he is mainly playing to get to 700 wins and not because he really does think deep down he is a capable NHL goaltender.

 

Whatever no skin off my back to whatever team is willing to put up with his losses to give him those 12 or 13 more wins he needs.

 

I would have said the same thing about a 42 year old goalie who is playing worse every season but here we are.

 

Well you didn't really respond to the point there and that's because you really can't. With respect DevsMan, Marty helped bring NJ 3 Stanley Cups, major NHL records, and a lifetime's worth of hockey memories. He doesn't owe you anything. He wants to play the game he loves (I've been saying this for a year now) and he should be allowed to. And guess what? A good team was willing to sign him.

 

But I know, I know, he owes you a Derek Jeter-esque goodbye tour, where he prances around the league being showered in gifts and praise. Yea...that's not egotistical at all. Oh actually, you have never even really liked Marty (you said so a few months ago) so you probably didn't even want the tour. You just want him to bow out of the game now, because you have decided it's time.

[DevsMan84]

Well you didn't really respond to the point there and that's because you really can't. With respect DevsMan, Marty helped bring NJ 3 Stanley Cups, major NHL records, and a lifetime's worth of hockey memories. He doesn't owe you anything. He wants to play the game he loves (I've been saying this for a year now) and he should be allowed to. And guess what? A good team was willing to sign him.

 

But I know, I know, he owes you a Derek Jeter-esque goodbye tour, where he prances around the league being showered in gifts and praise. Yea...that's not egotistical at all. Oh actually, you have never even really liked Marty (you said so a few months ago) so you probably didn't even want the tour. You just want him to bow out of the game now, because you have decided it's time.

 

I never said he owes me anything and I never said he should take a Jeter/Rivera-esque farewell tour.  In fact, I am glad he didn't.  I am also not taking away any of his accomplishments with the Devils and glad he was our goalie in those 3 cup wins.  I won't deny any of that.

 

Personally, he just rubbed me the wrong way and especially the last few years with his comments.  Last year was the worst and I think when he rode the pine for most of the games after the SS game he really came across bad (at least in my eyes and I know I am not the only one thinking that too).  Also like I said in my response to Crasher earlier, I think I am more upset at the Marty fanboys who have been beating the drum really loudly and this has certainly whipped them up in a frenzy, often at the expense of Cory where I see the non-stop "Cory sucks because he is not Marty" and "Bring Marty back" garbage.

[skeeter]

I wish Brodeur well but damn am I wishing for this too.  Not against Marty at all, this is 100% just to shut up those fans who can't let go of him.  There are many fans who I see are making the trip out there to watch Brodeur try to pad his ego further by going after 700 wins.

 

I just find it funny how people have for years been saying he is all about the team and yadda yadda but then when it is clear he is shot as a goalie defend him on his quest to inflate his stats even further.  I said a couple times last year if Brodeur would have gotten 700 wins last year he would quit, but no he must continue on his little ego trip to get to 700.  It is all about Marty and always was.

 

Edit: I also wonder if Brodeur does get lit up if skeeter will show his face around here.  My money is on that he won't.

 

If it will piss you off I'll be here making excuses for him you miserable human being. I'd rather Marty pad his well deserved ego than some know-nothing on a message board pad theirs.  Can't wait till he's the GM and your overinflated head explodes.

[AEWHistory]

I wish Brodeur well but damn am I wishing for this too.  Not against Marty at all, this is 100% just to shut up those fans who can't let go of him.  There are many fans who I see are making the trip out there to watch Brodeur try to pad his ego further by going after 700 wins.

 

I just find it funny how people have for years been saying he is all about the team and yadda yadda but then when it is clear he is shot as a goalie defend him on his quest to inflate his stats even further.  I said a couple times last year if Brodeur would have gotten 700 wins last year he would quit, but no he must continue on his little ego trip to get to 700.  It is all about Marty and always was.

 

Edit: I also wonder if Brodeur does get lit up if skeeter will show his face around here.  My money is on that he won't.

I've seen this sentiment before and I am a little perplexed by it: why is it so bad that MB wants to go for the 700 mark? I mean the dude is a competitor, right? So why is it do bad he wants to be the best and, perhaps, hit a level that may never be equaled again in our lifetimes? I'm not sure that wanting to attain a certain level for oneself if necessarily at odds with being a team player--especially when it is a stat like team wins which is, by necessity, a team stat but listed under goalies. Maybe I'm just blind but I guess I don't quite see it.

[Neb00rs]

Personally, he just rubbed me the wrong way and especially the last few years with his comments.  Last year was the worst and I think when he rode the pine for most of the games after the SS game he really came across bad (at least in my eyes and I know I am not the only one thinking that too).  Also like I said in my response to Crasher earlier, I think I am more upset at the Marty fanboys who have been beating the drum really loudly and this has certainly whipped them up in a frenzy, often at the expense of Cory where I see the non-stop "Cory sucks because he is not Marty" and "Bring Marty back" garbage.

 

There is no issue if you don't like Marty, the point is that you are wrong to say that he is doing something bad by staying in the game. The only reason to say this is if you think he should not follow his own heart, but yours instead. It sounds to me like you should be calling for the "Cory Sucks" crowd to retire and not Marty.

I've seen this sentiment before and I am a little perplexed by it: why is it so bad that MB wants to go for the 700 mark? I mean the dude is a competitor, right? So why is it do bad he wants to be the best and, perhaps, hit a level that may never be equaled again in our lifetimes? I'm not sure that wanting to attain a certain level for oneself if necessarily at odds with being a team player--especially when it is a stat like team wins which is, by necessity, a team stat but listed under goalies. Maybe I'm just blind but I guess I don't quite see it.

 

Very well said.

[AEWHistory]

If it will piss you off I'll be here making excuses for him you miserable human being. I'd rather Marty pad his well deserved ego than some know-nothing on a message board pad theirs.  Can't wait till he's the GM and your overinflated head explodes.

Wow, that was harsh. Do I detect a blossoming forum feud?

[MadDog2020]

[Neb00rs]

^How can something so wrong...look so right?

[Triumph]

I've seen this sentiment before and I am a little perplexed by it: why is it so bad that MB wants to go for the 700 mark? I mean the dude is a competitor, right? So why is it do bad he wants to be the best and, perhaps, hit a level that may never be equaled again in our lifetimes? I'm not sure that wanting to attain a certain level for oneself if necessarily at odds with being a team player--especially when it is a stat like team wins which is, by necessity, a team stat but listed under goalies. Maybe I'm just blind but I guess I don't quite see it.

 

It's totally arbitrary.  700 wins is 7 more impressive than 693 or whatever he has now.  Last year it looked bad because yes he was a competitor but he was also clearly worse than the guy he was competing with for the job, and he was upset about it.  Now, whatever, he can do what he likes.

[hit the post]

Hope he stands on his head,shuts them out. The comments should be great.......If he sh!ts the bed.....the comments should be great.....A win,win

[DevsMan84]

If it will piss you off I'll be here making excuses for him you miserable human being. I'd rather Marty pad his well deserved ego than some know-nothing on a message board pad theirs. Can't wait till he's the GM and your overinflated head explodes.

Edit: lol not even worth it

Edited December 4, 2014 by DevsMan84

[DevsMan84]

There is no issue if you don't like Marty, the point is that you are wrong to say that he is doing something bad by staying in the game. The only reason to say this is if you think he should not follow his own heart, but yours instead. It sounds to me like you should be calling for the "Cory Sucks" crowd to retire and not Marty.

Very well said.

I agree with the calling for cory sucks crowd to retire. I guess that is the crux of my issue and less than Marty personally (though again I never cared much for him). However seeing how skeeter responded to me I doubt no matter how badly brodeur plays and no matter how well cory plays cory will always suck in their eyes.

[Lateralous]

I've seen this sentiment before and I am a little perplexed by it: why is it so bad that MB wants to go for the 700 mark? I mean the dude is a competitor, right? So why is it do bad he wants to be the best and, perhaps, hit a level that may never be equaled again in our lifetimes? I'm not sure that wanting to attain a certain level for oneself if necessarily at odds with being a team player--especially when it is a stat like team wins which is, by necessity, a team stat but listed under goalies. Maybe I'm just blind but I guess I don't quite see it.

While I think it's a shame to see it end like this, I'm pretty much indifferent to this now. Now that the drama and sub-par play is for someone else, he can do what he wants. That being said, I think 656 wins in 19 seasons looks a hell of a lot more impressive than 700 over 22 or 23. It kind of makes him seem more like a compiler than the workhorse who pushed Bernie Parant's single season wins record seemingly every year.

[Derek21]

It'll definitely be weird to see Marty in a different jersey. I did a post on it. Good luck to him.

 

The Final Chapter

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

While I think it's a shame to see it end like this, I'm pretty much indifferent to this now. Now that the drama and sub-par play is for someone else, he can do what he wants. That being said, I think 656 wins in 19 seasons looks a hell of a lot more impressive than 700 over 22 or 23. It kind of makes him seem more like a compiler than the workhorse who pushed Bernie Parant's single season wins record seemingly every year.

 

He should never be labeled a compiler.  He's not Curtis Joseph, a pretty good goalie who finished with a lot of wins because he was pretty durable and played for a long time.  Brodeur is regarded as one of the three best goalies of his era (along with Hasek and Roy)...how they are ranked varies from fan to fan, but these three were clearly in a class by themselves in the time that they played.  And Brodeur's puck-handling was so good that rules were implemented strictly to curb his gifts.  He's not some mostly .500ish major-league pitcher who had a couple of big years and finished with a record of 260-218...he's an all-time great who had a tremendously long prime. 

[Chuck the Duck]

It'll definitely be weird to see Marty in a different jersey. I did a post on it. Good luck to him.

 

The Final Chapter

 

This quote from Brodeur that Derek21 included in his article sums up everything perfectly:

 

“I’m living this dream and when you are living a dream and you really enjoy what you do, it’s hard to let go sometimes.”

 

As a professional athlete, let alone one of, if not, the greatest to ever play the position, it can't be easy letting go of everything you've ever known, the life you've always had, and the routine that's so ingrained in you.  That's why for so many of these guys, they need to tear the jersey off their backs and basically force them to retire because they just aren't prepared to go on their own accord.  Marty is no different.  

 

What I don't get is all the anger/hatred towards Brodeur.  For some on this board it's almost as if supporting Marty and hoping he has success means you don't support Cory.  Those 2 things are not mutually exclusive.  And for those worried about what some ill informed fan says on Facebook or a blog about wanting Marty back at the expense of Cory, who really gives a sh!t what they say and think!  If that is the reason for the vitriol directed toward Marty both now, and last year, then that is a really sad indictment of this fanbase considering everything Brodeur has done for this orgnization for the past 20 years. 

[Lateralous]

He should never be labeled a compiler.  He's not Curtis Joseph, a pretty good goalie who finished with a lot of wins because he was pretty durable and played for a long time.  Brodeur is regarded as one of the three best goalies of his era (along with Hasek and Roy)...how they are ranked varies from fan to fan, but these three were clearly in a class by themselves in the time that they played.  And Brodeur's puck-handling was so good that rules were implemented strictly to curb his gifts.  He's not some mostly .500ish major-league pitcher who had a couple of big years and finished with a record of 260-218...he's an all-time great who had a tremendously long prime.

I don't necessarily disagree but he sure opened himself up to that when the last three years of his career seem like nothing more than a chase to 700, right or wrong.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I don't necessarily disagree but he sure opened himself up to that when the last three years of his career seem like nothing more than a chase to 700, right or wrong.

 

I've been over this before, but to sum up...he was coming off a 50ish-game stretch of mostly very good play in 2012, so both Lou and Marty thought he had something left (though it's fair to say the balance of 2010-2012 showed that it was hard to say exactly what Marty was going to be, though his age pointed to a decline, or at the very least, no more significantly long stretches of good play).  He struggles in 2013...as it's the first full season he's played poorly for most of it, he and Lou probably think it's just a bad year (maybe they shouldn't have looked it at that way).  Lou does the right thing by bringing in Cory.  Marty shows pretty conclusively in 2013-14 that, outside of that one 10-game stretch early in the year, he is clearly no longer the Marty of old...just an old Marty.  Anyway, we know partly why he was signed to a 2-year deal, though it was clearly a risk:  in case there was no 2013 season, and he did have other suitors that season.  Letting him just walk (especially with no other options in house) would've been hard to take, especially since he had been playing well just before he became an UFA.

 

But yeah, plenty has not worked out the past two seasons (for both the Devils and Marty), and though it will quickly be forgotten, if he stinks in this return, in some circles he's going to come off as kind of a joke in the present, as the guy who didn't know when to get out.  But no matter what, I won't even view him any differently than I do right now.