Brodeur's peers expect him to receive call from Hockey Hall of Fame

TORONTO -- Martin Brodeur's importance to the New Jersey Devils has never been a secret. Former Philadelphia Flyers forward Eric Lindros certainly knows how vital Brodeur was to three Stanley Cup championships.
"Fantastic goalie. Really, the huge key to why they won in New Jersey was because of Marty," Lindros said Monday of Brodeur, who is eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame this year and will likely be informed Tuesday that he will be a member of the 2018 class. "I think everyone knows it. Marty's done it on the international stage, on NHL ice. When I think of the best of the best, he's right up there."

Lindros, who played 760 NHL games with the Flyers, New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Dallas Stars from 1992-2007, saw more than his fair share of Brodeur; he played 41 games against the Devils, the fifth-most against any one team during his career.
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"It wasn't so much his style, he just had a sixth-sense about where things were going and he was extremely quick," said Lindros, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2016.
Brodeur is first all-time among NHL goaltenders in games played (1266) and wins (691). He has 237 more games played and 140 more wins than Patrick Roy, who is second in each category. Brodeur played in the Stanley Cup Final five times and won three championships (1995, 2000, 2003). He also won the gold medal with Canada at the 2002 and 2010 Olympics and the 2004 World Cup.
"He was the backbone of the (Devils)," Nashville Predators general manager David Poile said. "You knew you were going to have a low scoring game the way they played, the way he played. It was tremendous; it was almost like they had an advantage right way, that's how good he was."

Poile, who was GM of the Washington Capitals from 1982-1997, said it was not only his ability to stop the puck, but also the way Brodeur handled it so efficiently that helped make him successful. Throughout his 36-year career as a general manager, Poile said he considers Brodeur to be the best puck-handling goaltender he has ever seen.
"Playing the puck, he was ahead of everybody else," Poile said. "Everybody had to either adjust to him or couldn't adjust to him. That allowed their team to play a certain way and stand you up and make you throw the puck in. If you didn't place it correctly, it was coming right back at you because he was able to retrieve it or make a play with it.
"It was a unique first-time situation for that and the Devils, with their system they had, their coaching and their goaltending. They were hard to beat every night."

Former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Larry Murphy remembers how effective Brodeur was during the 1995 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when the Penguins lost in five games against the Devils in the second round. Murphy believes Brodeur revolutionized the goaltending position.
"He was very athletic and it showed for a goaltender, you better be able to skate," said Murphy, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004. "He could handle the puck because he was able to get out of the net and get to it. You saw that in the 1990s where goalies had to become excellent skaters. He showed that was something you could bring to that position, and now it's something that is demanded of that position."