After taking a leave of absence to decide whether or not he still wants to play NHL hockey, future hall of fame goaltender Martin Brodeur decided it was time to call it quits. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, broke the news on the longtime Devils and current St. Louis Blue goaltender while Jeremy Rutherford tweets that an official announcement will come Thursday.
BREAKING: Can confirm reports that Brodeur will retire. Press conference Thursday. #stlblues
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) January 27, 2015
Oddly enough though, Brodeur won’t be heading back to New Jersey just yet to take a job with his longtime team and instead stay in St. Louis to work in the Blues‘ front office.
Apparently though this isn’t any stab at his former according to Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello.
“(Brodeur) could have come here if he wanted,” Lamoriello told Rich Chere of the Star-Ledger. “I don’t think this is a case of him choosing (between the two clubs). He’s been there with the players. The (Blues) players and administration asked him to stay. He had an impact in that dressing room.
“He’s going to be travelling with the team and staying with the team. It keeps him as close to playing for the rest of this year as he can get. He’s doing this because he made that commitment there this year. There is no disrespect (to the Devils) whatsoever… (but) he’ll be back with the Devils.”
Brodeur finishes his NHL career with leading the league in games played (1,266), wins (691) and shutouts (125). After joining the Blues back in November on a one-year deal, Brodeur went 3-3-0 with a .899 save percentage.
