When the Devils acquired Cory Schnieder in a blockbuster draft trade with Vancouver four months ago, people figured he would supplant a 41-year old Martin Brodeur as the team’s starting goalie at some point.  I’m not sure anyone figured the transition would be this quick though.  Schnieder will start his third straight game tomorrow night at home against his former team, although most people figured when the schedule came out that Schnieder would get both Canuck grudge matches anyway.

Even more telling though is what Brodeur himself had to say after practice today.  In a somewhat reflective mood Brodeur admitted, ‘I think he’s (Cory) in the net now to stay…I don’t see that’s going to be changed any time soon’.  While I didn’t see this kind of admission coming in October from a proud athlete like Marty, one look at the numbers so far indicate this kind of day was going to happen sooner or later:

1. Schnieder 2.21 GAA, .917 save pct. in five starts
2. Brodeur 3.40 GAA, .865 save pct. in four starts

Sometimes it can get pretty ugly for legends on the way out.  Derek can give chapter and verse on the inordinate influence Mark Messier had in his final, wasted years in New York, or how ugly Patrick Ewing‘s forced exit from the Knicks was.  Fans of another generation can recall Willie Mays falling down in centerfield during his final days with the Mets, or Joe Namath leaving the Jets and playing a handful of forgettable games as a Ram to close his career.  Injuries are sometimes inevitable with older bodies too, such as what’s going on with Yankee icon Derek Jeter right now – or Scott Stevens suffering a concussion in his final season and never playing again.  Occasionally HOF’ers are lucky/perceptive enough to leave on the right note. Yankee fans witnessed one such graceful exit recently with Mariano Rivera (I’d say the same about Andy Pettite too except he is just a notch below the other athletes mentioned in this paragraph).

In hindsight, would it have been better had Brodeur walked away following the ’11-12 playoff run?  I guess, but you can hardly blame the guy for thinking he had more hockey left in him following a strong second half of the season and a playoff run that woke up the echoes from seasons past (14 wins, 2.12 GAA, .917 save percentage).  Perhaps he would have won the Conn Smythe he could have had in 2003 and an improbable fourth Stanley Cup if Mark Fayne could hit an open net late in Game 1, or Ilya Kovalchuk didn’t hit a crossbar late in Game 2.  Even with the team coming up short, Brodeur could take pride in his performance at age 40, an age where most goaltenders have already called it a career, and no goaltender’s ever put up the minutes/games played that Marty has.  Brodeur has 1,224 NHL games under his belt – and counting – a full 195 games clear of Patrick Roy.  Brodeur has 669 career wins, a full 118 ahead of Roy now.  I remember how big a deal it was when Brodeur hit #552 in 2009 to break Roy’s record…yours truly took the above picture that special night.  And oh yes, Brodeur also leads all NHL goaltenders in career goals scored with three.

Maybe it would have been better for Marty to leave the 2012 playoff run as a spectacular finish to a brilliant career, but personally I’ll be sad when Marty stops playing.  I’ve known nothing else as a fan literally other than seeing Marty in net.  And personally from his end, Marty’s a competitor.  Ironically, winning itself probably rejuvanated him as much as anything, after a playoff-less 2010-11 season and several early playoff exits before that.  When he re-signed with the Devils, the immediate future still looked bright.  Unfortunately two days later, star winger and ex-captain Zach Parise left the Devils out in the cold by going to Minnesota.  After a playoff-less season where Brodeur’s save percentage went down and he missed a month with an elbow injury (though he did put up a 2.22 GAA in his 29 starts last year), came more bad news in the offseason with Kovalchuk’s shock departure and the gritty David Clarkson – who had a bit of a little brother type relationship with Marty – leaving for money at home in Toronto as well.

With his numbers so far and the team only having one win in its first nine games, things could have gotten ugly if Marty decided to make an issue of his playing time.  That’s the one thing I knew wouldn’t happen though.  After all, Marty was benched on a gold-medal winning Canada team in favor of Roberto Luongo and said all the right things then.  Even three years ago when he struggled and was replaced by Johan Hedberg for about a month he was all about what’s best for the team.  Yes, you do have to have an ego to be as good as Marty is…but Marty seldom if ever lets that ego get in the way of the greater good and he proved that again today.

“I think we’ve got to try to win some games somehow”, Brodeur said.  “This is what (head coach Pete DeBoer) feels is the best opportunity for him to be successful is having (Schneider) in the net and that’s fine. If we win, everybody’s happy. Even though I don’t play, it’s more enjoyable to be around….days like today are not fun.”

Make no mistake about it though…the fire still burns and Marty still wants to do what he can to contribute:

“I haven’t changed. I want to play every game. It’s not fun to sit,” he said. “The body feels good. That’s about it. It’s hard when you’re used to being the guy that’s counted on to play and all the sudden you’re not asked to. It definitely makes it a little hard, but it’s part of the process of getting older. It’s like we talked about the last three years. I haven’t played as many games either. It’s kind of somewhat a transition. But definitely it’s not fun. “You don’t play hockey, especially at the age I am, to just sit on the bench and hang out and have to do what I did today (be the only goalie in practice). It was fun today. I had a blast, but ask me that in two months and I don’t know if I’ll say the same thing.”

This isn’t going to be a situation where Schnieder will automatically play 70 games just yet though…with another twenty back-to-backs remaining, plus a road game at Montreal where he’ll surely play if healthy, Brodeur will still get his opportunities to go out in a final blaze of glory.  I hope he does.