Martin Brodeur: One Last Hurrah?

No matter who you believe to be the greatest goaltender in hockey history, you can not deny Martin Brodeur's inclusion in the conversation. After all, he happens to be the NHL's all time leader in wins and shutouts and he's a three time Stanley Cup champion, four time Vezina trophy winner and two time Olympic gold medallist.

As amazingly consistent as Brodeur has been over his long career, many believe we are now seeing a serious decline in Brodeur's game. Yes, he had a bad 2010 Olympics, and yes he had a terrible start to the 2010-11 season. People were convinced we had seen the end of Martin Brodeur's greatness.

But not so. Very quietly Brodeur finished the 2011 season as hot as any goalie, going 18-8-2 with a .923 save percentage from New Year's Day 2011 and forward. And this 2011-12 season he has quietly has New Jersey comfortably holding on to a playoff spot. Yes, his starts are down this year and his stats are off of his career norms, but he is getting wins. And it's not like he has Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer on the blue line any more either. I'm not even sure who Mark Fayne, Andy Greene and Matt Taormina are.

If the Devils can stay healthy and somehow squeeze out some more goals out of their offense-challenged team, Martin Brodeur and the Devils might just make some noise in the 2012 playoffs. He may be almost 40 years old and past his prime, but Martin Brodeur has enough fire within himself for one more great story in his amazing career.