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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 19, 2007Martin BrodeurDAVID KEON: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm David Keon of the National Hockey League's public relations department. I'd like to welcome you to our call. Our guest is New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur. Thanks to Marty for taking the time today to answer your questions and thanks to the Devils' Jeff Altstadter for arranging the call. Last season Marty won an NHL-record 48 games, surpassing Bernie Parent's 47 set in 1973/'74. He led the league in shutouts with 12, ranked third in goals-against with a 2.18 goals-against average, and third in save percentage at .922. He begins this season second on the league's all-time wins list with 494 and is third on the all-time shutout list with 92. He appeared in 78 games last year, one shy of the single-season mark set by Grant Fuhr in 1995/'96 with St. Louis. He played 4,697 minutes last season, breaking his own record set in 2003/2004. He's appeared in 70 or more regular-season games for nine consecutive seasons, the longest streak in NHL history. With a points percentage of .635 over the last 10 seasons, the Devils are first in the league just ahead of Ottawa. They open the season in Tampa Bay on October 4th. Thanks to Marty for joining us. We'll open it up for questions. Q. Brent Sutter is a new coach. You've been through about eight or nine different coaches. Probably have a pretty good feel for coaching with the New Jersey Devils. Coaches come and go; a lot of players have stayed. What is Brent Sutter lake compared to Jacques Lemaire or Jerry Robinson? MARTIN BRODEUR: I think Brent definitely took charge from day one in the way that our team -- the way he wants our team to play. I think really the way how high strung he is as far as the way he talks, how confident he is in himself, I mean, reminds me a lot of like Pat Burns or Jacques Lemaire. He's not a guy that's going to let the players dictate too much what's going on. He really has been having a great camp so far, and everybody has been looking forward to just starting the season with him. I think a great impression from the guys in the first week that he's been our head coach. Q. The fact he hasn't coached in the NHL, coached pro before, does that matter to you? The fact that he played 17 NHL years... MARTIN BRODEUR: You know, you couldn't even tell. He walks in there, and it doesn't look like he's impressed at all to be where he is. He feels comfortable to be in the position that he's in. For us, he's just a guy that played the game. We're fortunate with our coaching staff having Larry Robinson, John MacLean and Tommy Albelin, a lot of games played between each other. So as players, that's what you like, a guy that lived the NHL life and lived what it takes to be a winner. Definitely with Brent we have that and also our assistant coaches also. Q. Every single summer it seems like we in the media find ourselves looking at the Devils and the guys who departed via free agency, the trade, and wondering whether it's going to be a downturn for the team. Every single year the Devils prove all the naysayers wrong. Are the losses of Gomez and Rafalski different or is it more of the same? MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, I hope it's more of the same. But definitely losing two caliber players like these two, I mean, it's going to be tough. I think guys, both of them logged a lot of ice time for us on the power play, especially on the offensive part of our game. We never really got notarized too much for that part of our game. So that's why I think it's going to be more of the same. I don't think we're going to be able to put in some other bodies that will be able to fill in and do the job. Definitely I like the moves we made. We got some size in our lineup for a change. We got some big defensemen, a couple big forwards in Asham and Zubrus. So hopefully that's going to even out a little bit the loss of two key offensive players that we lost through free agency. Q. One guy who is expected to step up is Andy Greene. You got to see a bit of him the second half of last year. What are your thoughts on his game? MARTIN BRODEUR: You know, he's a great player. If it wasn't for cap issues last year, probably would have been most of the season with us in the NHL. So definitely it's kind of nice to have some young guys be able to step in. We got Johnny Oduya in his second season also. That should get himself going also. So, you know, we're happy about the transition that we made with Paul Martin now I think having a solid contract for him. I think he's going to feel that he's going to have a lot more responsibility and hopefully he'll be able to handle that. Q. Could you talk a little bit about how you've seen Vinny Lecavalier mature over the last little while? From your standpoint, what makes him a difficult player to defend? MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, I think Vinny has been a force in the NHL for a few years now. But I think last year really, you know, he showed the leadership that maybe people were expecting from him from a young age. I think he's showing it now. I think what's tough about him is his size. I don't think you get too many guys that are so mobile, so good, wants to be so successful, and be able to be physical when you're a top player. Sometimes you shy away from traffic and everything. But that's not the case with him. He goes, makes his plays in traffic. He's a pretty hard guy to defend. We got the taste of him in the playoffs. Definitely for a team that usually we're pretty good at shutting down, I think Vinny is probably one of the toughest guys we had to face. Q. There's a sense that both his wrist shot and slapshot are underrated. How do you feel about that? MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, like I said, he's so big. He keeps the puck to himself a lot. So you don't really see him use it that much. But when he does, I mean, it's hard. As a goalie, I think anybody could tell you, I mean, it comes pretty hard. But the thing is, it's accurate. He doesn't miss the net that much. Again, when he shoots, he shoots to score. That's why he was the leading goal-scorer last year. Q. What keeps you motivated? You've won Stanley Cups. As was mentioned at the beginning, you hold a lot of NHL records. What keeps you motivated from season to season to just keep going? MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, I think it's a matter of having fun playing the game. Every year is a different challenge for us. When you get older, it definitely becomes a bigger challenge. You see young guys, and you take a lot of pride in trying to show these young guys the way to having success. So I don't know. I'm just scared to miss it when I'm going to be done, so that's why I'm enjoying every second that the Devils or any NHL team will give me the opportunity to play. I think that's what keeps me motivated, just the fun of the game. I think hockey's a great game. It's not work for me. Until I have that feeling about the game, I'll be playing. Q. Do you look at the records, third in the all-time shutout list, second on the victories list. Do you look at those kinds of records? Do those keep you motivated as well or do you look at the numbers? MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, it's hard not to pay attention to them because a lot of people will bring it up to me all the time everywhere I go. The closer I'm going to get, you know, it's going to get -- it will be more emphasis on it. Definitely, I mean, it's something that keeps you going because there are certain goals that you need to achieve to be on top of your game as far as winning and stuff like that. It makes a big difference for me because I'm able to do that and at the same time it helps my team. That's the beauty for goalies with their records, it's nothing personal. If I win, my team wins. I mean, these are a couple things that I'm definitely looking forward to try to accomplish in the next few seasons. But, again, this is not why I play hockey. I'm fortunate to play in an organization and teams that believed in winning and made everything possible for me to be in a position like that. That's about it. Q. Yesterday the NHL was talking about going away from the schedule where you play eight games against each team in your division to maybe seven games, so you could play every team in the league once. Did you like the eight games against division rivals or do you think it's now time for a change? MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, you know what, when they introduced it after the lockout, I thought it was going to be great. I think playing that kind of schedule, I think it got boring a little bit, even for our fans. We felt if we brought the Rangers four times or played them eight times during the regular season, it would have been great in New Jersey. But at the end of the day, it's like, there's another game next week, there's another game in two weeks. It doesn't become an event any more. The rivalries are just too much. There's too much games to be played. You know, we played eight games against the Rangers, and four of -- plus four in the playoffs one year. That's 12 games, plus the pre-season games we have to play. For me I think that threw me off a little bit to see how much -- how many times you play against the same team. So definitely it will be nice to go back and play, if that is decided, I'm not sure if it is or not, but to go back and play the western teams. Because, like I said, this year we're going to western Canada. And I don't remember, I think it must be five or six years I didn't play there yet. Q. You have a backup goalie now who has a lot more experience than your previous backup goalies. Do you anticipate your work load will decrease any this year? MARTIN BRODEUR: You know what, that's like the million dollar question here in New Jersey. I've been asked every single day that question. You know, for me, I don't approach it different than other seasons because I have more of a veteran backup. I played some seasons with John Vanbiesbrouck that had more games played than me. For me, I got to get myself geared that I'm going to play as many games as I played last season. After that, we'll see how the season goes. We'll see how the body goes and the success we're going to have. You know, mentally I don't change my approach at all. But who knows. Now we have the luxury to have a backup that has been proven in the NHL. Q. Everybody makes a lot of noise about your numbers, the wins you have, shutouts. The one that struck me is the games played each and every year, setting a record for nine or ten years in a row with 70 plus appearances. Is that something you take a lot of pride in, almost as much as some of the more tangible numbers? MARTIN BRODEUR: You know, I do. I think it says a lot about an athlete when you're able to be durable. And I think I'm fortunate enough to have the confidence of my organization to put me in there that much. You know, I think that's the first thing. But after that, for me to be able to stay healthy and become successful also permits me to play that many games. But I do take a lot of pride in it. And you could see slowly other goalies in the league that are trying to accomplish the same thing. You look at Luongo last season. Kiprusoff is a guy that plays a lot of games. You'll see a lot of the younger guys. We're not different than a regular player. That's my attitude about the game. Mentally it's not more of a strain on myself than it is on a forward or a defenseman. A lot of people perceive that because back then it might have been like that. But now the game has changed a lot. I think that's why you're being able to see the goalies being able to play a lot more. Q. Why do you think the game has changed so goalies can play more? You talked about still having the love of the game to keep playing, yet your friend Scott Niedermayer, who won a lot of Cups, is saying, Maybe I've done enough, maybe might want to retire. Can you see both sides? MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, I think as far as Nieder, I think everybody on the personal level reacts different about their career. They put the importance of hockey in different areas. I played with Scott for many years. You know, he's a guy that loves the game. I think he accomplished a lot. But at the end of the day, I'm not in his body to have a feel of the reason why he doesn't have that drive to try to continue. I'm not sure if he's going to retire or not. I think he's been keeping everybody in the dark for a few months or so. So it's really hard for me to comprehend a little bit, especially when you're on top of your game. I know a lot of people would like to finish on top. I think when you play a sport for a living, it's kind of pretty cool to do. As far as the game, I think the preparation of goalies, I think the support that you have with your team, I think the size and how good of shape every goalie is now compared to before. I think it really makes a big difference in the work load of some of the goalies are able to handle. DAVID KEON: Thanks very much, Marty, for your time today. MARTIN BRODEUR: No problem. DAVID KEON: We will have Chris Pronger of the Anaheim Ducks available at 5 p.m. eastern time tomorrow. Thanks, everyone, for joining us. End of FastScripts |
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