NEWARK, N.J. — Martin Brodeur is looking beyond passing Patrick Roy as the NHL’s all-time leader in wins by a goaltender.
The New Jersey Devils goaltender wants to win enough games to make his mark almost untouchable for those youngsters who today are skating on ponds and in arenas with their dads and junior teams.
Brodeur, who tied the former Avs goalie’s career mark in a storybook setting in his hometown of Montreal on Saturday, will get a chance to win his 552nd game tonight, when the Devils host the Chicago Blackhawks.
“I will just put myself in a class of my own, for now,” Brodeur said Monday when asked about breaking the mark. “When people look at stats now, there are two names at 551. There will be one name at 552 when I get there. After that, it’s 553 and I will just try to raise the bar as high as I can.”
Brodeur doesn’t have a particular number in mind. After breaking the mark, he said the next big number would be 600, but obviously that is not his goal.
The 36-year-old is under contract for another three seasons and he intends on fulfilling that commitment.
Until tearing a biceps in his left elbow in November and missing almost four months while undergoing rehabilitation, Brodeur had won at least 37 games a season since 1996-97, not counting the NHL’s lockout year.
If the four-time Vezina Trophy winner did that over the final three years of his contract, he would have about 675 wins when his contract runs out.
