70 replies to this topic

[HellOnICE]

Oh Marty Marty. 20 years in, and it's come to this. A terrible GAA, Save %, with stretches of brilliance mixed in.

What shall we do?

Well clearly, this is Brodeur's last season with the Devils.

Should he retire before the end of the season? Maybe. I'd support him either way.

However, one thing that we must acknowledge is that Brodeur can still "play" but he cannot "play" the way he's accustomed. Marty's style of play is too tiresome for his age to hold up more than twice a week. I hope the coaching staff recognizes this, as seemingly they did last night. If Marty played Tuesday night, and was surely locked into play Saturday afternoon against Les Canadiens then why did they feel the need to start him last night?

The coaching staff from here on out, need to be more mindful of when playing him. You can't really start Hedberg more than 3 in a row, but these guys need to be alternating as often as they can to maximize their effectiveness. Marty shouldn't be playing more than twice a week, never on a back to back, and the bookends of 3 games in four nights.

I don't think he even realized how the age would play a factor, but it's there. I hope they can figure out what they need to do to get the most of what's left.

[NJDevs4978]

He's not retiring before the end of the season, especially when the only thing standing between having Kinkaid start is whether a 39-year old Moose stays healthy.

[Pepperkorn]

I was going to scoff but what the hell -- if you can't lose rational perspective on a message board where can you, eh? Vent away my friend

[HellOnICE]

He's not retiring before the end of the season, especially when the only thing standing between having Kinkaid start is whether a 39-year old Moose stays healthy.

There's teams looking to trade goalies.

[thelastonealive]

We have two very old goaltenders...And this team seems to respond (or at least stop the bleeding) to goaltender changes. I wonder if changing the goalie mid-game every night is a reasonable course of action.

[Triumph]

I don't really know where you come up with the conclusion that Brodeur can't play 2 straight games, or 3 straight games. The more sensible conclusion is that Brodeur just isn't very good and it doesn't matter when he starts or doesn't start.

[Devils731]

There's teams looking to trade goalies.

Why would the Devils waste assets like that? There is no guarantee anyone you get does better than what the Devils have now.

This same thought process last season would have missed out on Marty having a great second half. It already looks like Marty isn't going to get overplayed, let him play it out. He's already had a few games with bad numbers where he actually played very well and I think Hedberg has had a few of the opposite, so Marty's numbers are probably a little worse than they should be and Hedberg's are probably a little better than they should be.

[HellOnICE]

I don't really know where you come up with the conclusion that Brodeur can't play 2 straight games, or 3 straight games. The more sensible conclusion is that Brodeur just isn't very good and it doesn't matter when he starts or doesn't start.

Because one night he looks like he's capable of playing to a somewhat acceptable capability. I think he played fine on Tuesday. I'm chalking up to being physically not capable of playing every other night to playing terribly last night. If he wants to keep on this roller coaster, we have no choice, he's signed until the end of the year. That's fine. But he cannot games in a row.

[Amberite]

I'm still not convinced that Brodeur could have regressed this much in 1 year. I know he's getting older, but you don't go from being an elite NHL goalie one year to a juniors-level goalie the next. His consistency isn't going to be what it was, but I still think he can make a difference in games. He just needs to get his groove back, and I think his confidence is just not there right now.

Montreal on Saturday may be exactly what he needs. He always seems to find his game playing them, and if the cards fall right, it may start him on a roll.

[Triumph]

Because one night he looks like he's capable of playing to a somewhat acceptable capability. I think he played fine on Tuesday. I'm chalking up to being physically not capable of playing every other night to playing terribly last night. If he wants to keep on this roller coaster, we have no choice, he's signed until the end of the year. That's fine. But he cannot games in a row.

But even a bad goaltender is going to have good games. Even bad goaltenders stop 88% of the shots, it's just a given that in there are going to be some 1 goal games and probably 1 or 2 shutouts over the course of a season. It's the 4 and 5 goal games that bury these guys.

I don't really buy the fatigue angle.

[EdgeControl]

Martys not the brodeur of old but its not like he's fallen off a cliff either. very inconsistent just like every other player on this team it seems. some bad luck and bad breaks are following him now. and yes his style is less forgiving (im a huge butterfly fanboy) his glove is still quick, the rebounds are scary but our defense is as much to blame as he is.

but deboer has to be carefull here, theres only so many time you can yank him to spark the team before you're left with one goalie

[lucifer91]

I don't really know where you come up with the conclusion that Brodeur can't play 2 straight games, or 3 straight games. The more sensible conclusion is that Brodeur just isn't very good and it doesn't matter when he starts or doesn't start.

You think he was entirely to blame for last night? Sure I wish he would hold on to the puck but I don't blame him for the 2 last night, nor a lot of the goals this season. They don't seem to play well in front of him so far this year.

I personally am tired of other teams taking cracks at Marty, and throwing out the fact that he is nearing 40 and that he is the winningest goaltender of all time. I think that Marty still deserves respect.

[NJDevs4978]

Marty's just been bad since getting destroyed in Colorado. Before that, I didn't buy the numbers but since then he's been legitimately pulled twice.

And there's no denying at this point they play better for Moose, whatever the reason.

[sundstrom]

I don't really know where you come up with the conclusion that Brodeur can't play 2 straight games, or 3 straight games. The more sensible conclusion is that Brodeur just isn't very good and it doesn't matter when he starts or doesn't start.

But even a bad goaltender is going to have good games. Even bad goaltenders stop 88% of the shots, it's just a given that in there are going to be some 1 goal games and probably 1 or 2 shutouts over the course of a season. It's the 4 and 5 goal games that bury these guys.

I don't really buy the fatigue angle.

i agree here. i don't think it's fatigue. i just don't think he's that good anymore. i'm not so sure he was destined to play Montreal. The days of him getting "special" games are long over. i pray moose gets the game vs mtl. let marty take TB next week and back to moose for tuesday.

[DevsMan84]

I too have to agree with sundstrom and triumph that Brodeur just isn't that good anymore.

I would really like to see Kinkaid in for a game or two this season, just to see how he can do, but only if we are out of the playoff picture.

[Triumph]

You think he was entirely to blame for last night? Sure I wish he would hold on to the puck but I don't blame him for the 2 last night, nor a lot of the goals this season. They don't seem to play well in front of him so far this year.

No, but he certainly didn't play well. This team is a .500 team in pretty much all respects right now, it can't afford to give up bad goals night after night.

Re: Brodeur fatigue - he did start all 14 games in March 2011 posting a .922 save percentage and 1.68 GAA.

[sundstrom]

i totally blame marty for both goals - no question.

too casual and bad puck handling on goal one and then out of position.

awful, unnecessary rebound and inability to recover on goal 2.

[SMantzas]

It pains me to say this, but I think we should roll with Hedberg not because he is substantially better, but the team plays so much better in front of him. Can anyone pull up the stats of g/f with Hedberg compared to Brodeur?

[Daniel]

Hedberg is clearly the number 1 goalie now.

[msweet]

I'm not convinced of anything yet. From my seat at the Rock, we totally sucked for at least one period yesterday, and have for numerous periods past in front of Marty.

Let's see if Deboer can get them playing defensively well and then judge the goalies.