Will New Jersey Devils find a goalie to replace NHL legend Martin Brodeur?
Martin Brodeur has been serving New Jersey Devils for 21 years now. He has played 1191 games for them, won three Stanley Cups for them, has won 656 games with them and has been the most loyal person as, since then, he has always played for New Jersey Devils
but no team else.
When Brodeur’s six year contract, signed in 2006-2007 season ended, New Jersey Devils and their fans were very much worried that who would be their goalie and who would replace 40-year-old legendary goaltender?
Finding a goalie is a problem that Brodeur has not let New Jersey Devils face since he took the responsibility.
Their fans and the Newark, New Jersey, based team took a sigh of relief when two-times Olympic Gold medallist with Canadian international hockey team, signed a two-year new deal with New Jersey Devils. But finding a goalie for future is an issue for Devils
that they will have to face some day. And it would be better for them to solve this problem of finding the goalie as soon as possible.
They do have a reserve goaltender, a very experienced and very capable one but the age issue is there as well. That is 39-year-old, Swedish goaltender Johan Hedberg, who has been playing NHL for last 12 years.
Before signing for New Jersey Devils in 2010, he had played for four different NHL teams.
He first played for Pittsburgh Penguins in 2000-2001 season, then went on to play one season for Vancouver Canucks for one season (2003-2004), Dallas Stars for one season (2005-2006) and Atlantic Thrashers for four seasons (2005-2009). But like Brodeur he
has not got many years left now.
New Jersey Devils’ general manager, Lou Lamoriello, was satisfied that both experienced goalies signed with them, as he said,
"We're here to win, and right now, the two goalies we feel we have will give us the best chance at winning for a lot of different reasons”.
But at the same time he stressed upon need of finding a new and young goaltender that can serve them for a long period like Brodeur did. He said they have high hopes from them as he added,
“We have a couple of young goalies we have high hopes for … they have the potential. It's a question of how quickly they can adjust and what they can do."
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