Brodeur learning on fly in Blues front office

PHILADELPHIA -- The last time Martin Brodeur had three games in three nights was more than 20 years ago when he played in the American Hockey League.

But Brodeur, in his new role as adviser to the general manager of the St. Louis Blues, was seated next to GM Doug Armstrong in the press box at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday to watch the Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs.

"It's four in four because we played Thursday too," Armstrong said.

After 22 seasons of watching NHL hockey from the top of his goal crease, Brodeur is getting a crash course in evaluating games from the top of the arena. He announced his retirement as a player Thursday to work in the Blues front office and that night was next to Armstrong to watch St. Louis host the Nashville Predators.

The next night he traveled with the Blues to see them play the Carolina Hurricanes. With the Blues off Saturday, he and Armstrong took a train from Washington to Philadelphia. They'll leave late Saturday night and be back in Washington in time for the Blues' game against the Washington Capitals on Sunday (1 p.m.; NBCSN).

"There's no nights off when you're on the road," Armstrong said.

That's one of the many adjustments for Brodeur.

"It's fun," the 42-year-old said. "I'm learning, asking a lot of questions. It's something that has really interested me. The last three days have been fun, being involved."

Armstrong said adding Brodeur's voice and knowledge to the front office was about surrounding himself with as many smart people as possible.

"I'm fortunate to work with [vice president of hockey operations] Dave Taylor, [director of pro scouting] Rob DiMaio, [director of player development] Tim Taylor, all Stanley Cup champions and great players," Armstrong said. "Adding another quality player to our organization, that's really what you look for, what we look for. What they do on the ice is very impressive, but you want to surround yourself with quality people."

Brodeur said what most former players and coaches say when they move to a higher vantage point, that the game looks a lot slower from high up. But that perspective interests him.

"I think it's a lot easier to judge people from up here," Brodeur said. "That's where I'm trying to find the way of doing it, the right way of doing it, to give the best input I can knowing that two weeks ago, three weeks ago I was the one down there.

"Hockey's hockey. Right here I think it exposes it a little bit, but it's all productive."

Armstrong said sitting with Brodeur the past few games has been a two-way learning process.

"What I'm trying to gain from him is his knowledge of the Eastern Conference, gain his knowledge on how he sees the game," Armstrong said. "There's as much teaching as learning from both of us now. That's what makes it a really exciting relationship. With us we're just trying to tell him what we look for in players, what we want to do at the trade deadline, how our philosophy of evaluating players is, what we look for. And then I get his input on how he looks at things and how he looks at players."

After so many years of playing the game, Brodeur very quickly has learned to enjoy watching it.

"Less stressful, that's for sure," he said.

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