Appreciation of Martin Brodeur

Being well aware of the fact that today was Masters Sunday, if you appreciate the NHL at all, I'm hoping you flipped over to the Bruins-Devils game at some point. Not necessarily for the whole game, but for a few minutes here and there, and certainly the final minutes.

It very well may have been Martin Brodeur's final game in the NHL.

Nothing is official yet, but Brodeur's contract expires at the end of the league year, and the Devils' trade for Cory Schneider last summer made it clear that New Jersey was done operating under the assumption Brodeur would last forever. The Devils even floated the idea of trading him at this year's trade deadline, to give him another shot at a Stanley Cup, but after that came and went, it's become even more clear Brodeur's end game is in sight.

If today was indeed it, Brodeur went out with a bit of symmetry: a win over the Bruins. Back on March 26, 1992, Brodeur made the first start of his career for the Devils, who drafted him with the second-to-last pick in the 1st round of the 1990 NHL draft, and tallied a win over the Bruins. He gained the full-time starting gig for NJ in the 1994-95 season, and has appeared in more games (1,258) than any other goaltender in the history of the NHL since.

Along the way, Brodeur has amassed a resume that has put him in the discussion for the "greatest goalie of all-time." Three Stanley Cup wins, four Vezina trophies for the league's best netminder, and the all-time record for both wins by a goalie (687) and shutouts (124). In the 1995 episode of Seinfeld, "The Facepainter," David Puddy dons a Martin Brodeur jersey with his face painted in the Devils' theme of red and black. It's pretty remarkable that in 2014, that jersey is still of an active player.

Perhaps my favorite quality of Brodeur has been his lack of a concrete retirement announcement. Only he knows the answer for sure, but rather than make himself a spectacle, he's kept his intentions to himself. No prolonged farewell tours, "look at me!" media whore tendencies. Simply going about his business, doing what he could to keep the Devils in contention for a playoff spot until the season's final week in a new role as a backup. New Jersey president/GM Lou Lamoriello wasn't afraid to reduce the role of a franchise icon as he neared his potential end, which could be in stark contrast to the role of a certain shortstop for a baseball team based out of the Bronx. To be continued there. 

But this is about Brodeur. Watching his final moments this afternoon, there's no active player in hockey who's meant as much to one franchise as Brodeur has to the Devils. Sure, Jaromir Jagr and Teemu Selanne have been just as good at what they do for just as long, but they haven't spent their entire careers in one organization. It's almost a blessing ESPN neglects hockey in this case, because with all the coverage you're about to see that shortstop from the Bronx get, or the coverage that quarterback from Hattiesburg, Miss. got not too long ago, you may have suffered some Brodeur fatigue these last several months.

If you do want to compare Brodeur to a player from another sport, then yeah Derek Jeter would be a fantastic contemporary. So would Tom Brady, as well as Tim Duncan. Those other three have spent similarly long careers with their respective teams, and just those teams, winning multiple championships and cementing legacies of their own as all-time greats. It's some fantastic company.

Until Brodeur says for sure that he's hanging up the skates, hockey fans can hold out hope he returns for a 22nd season in the Garden State. But the guess here is we've seen the last of Marty after today. And anytime one of the greatest players of all-time moves on, you tend to wonder who the "next" one is, who could assume the part of "greatest active goalie" in the NHL. The short answer: no one's even close.

Channel Flip Season

Lots of talk lately about March being "the best time of the year" if you're a sports fan. The NCAA Tournament at the forefront of the notion, obviously, but Spring Training and the idea that baseball is right around the corner helping, too.

I won't disagree that the NCAA Tournament might be the single-greatest sporting event on the planet, but pound for pound I'll take April over March, and it has nothing to do with college hoops (despite the Final Four generally occurring in the month): Channel Flip Season, or flipping between baseball and hockey.

REAL baseball games, that is, combined with hockey season winding down towards the playoffs. Not to mention it's a sure sign summer's right around the corner, but the fact that both the Bruins and Red Sox are on tonight, and they'll be overlapping quite frequently for at least the next month...what's better than that? This year especially it's gonna be unreal, with the Bruins vying for the President's Trophy and the Sox defending their World Series title. Working the NESN/NESN Plus/NBC Sports Network rotation is always one of my favorite times of year, and it starts tonight.

Tuukka for the Razor: Most lopsided deal ever?

Remember earlier this season, near the end of December and the beginning of January, when the Bruins were struggling just a bit? Just a little hiccup every team experiences, but a 3-5 stretch included losses of the worst variety: to bad teams (Islanders, Senators); to potential Stanley Cup opponents (Kings, Ducks); to teams you just flat out can't stand (Maple Leafs). The pink-hat Bruins talking heads began clamoring for a re-do on the Tyler Seguin trade, or that Zdeno Chara was washed up, or that Tuukka Rask was overrated. It was coming from people who don't realize Peter Chiarelli is hockey's Belichick, but it was still frustrating.

After that little stretch came and went? Since January 16, the Bruins have points in all but two of their games (17-2-3). Winners of their last nine. Admittedly, I didn't even realize they had overtaken the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Eastern Conference's best record. Chalk it up to some college hoops over the last week, but it's time to fully reinvest in the B's.

Tuukka Rask has been absolutely outstanding all season long, but particularly during this stretch. Carrying the load for the Bronze Medal-winning Finns at the Olympics hasn't seemed to hurt him either. One question mark I had about Rask's 8-year, $56 million contract was "can he withstand a full 82 game schedule?" Hard as it is to believe, Tuukka has never been a full-time starter over a full season. 2009-10 he replaced Tim Thomas about halfway through, playing in 45 games (plus the post-season where he and the Bruins wilted a 3-0 series lead to the Flyers). He was penciled in as the starter for the 2010-11 season, where the Bruins ultimately won the Stanley Cup, but Thomas's hot start earned him the job back, and you know the rest. After Timmy T went off the deep end, Rask earned the starting job back in 2012-13, but as you remember, that was only a 48-game schedule. 

Last night's triumph over the Minnesota Wild prompted a friend of mine, let's call him @frankie4seven, to tweet, "Is Tuukka Rask for Andrew Raycroft the most lopsided trade in NHL history?"

A bold statement for sure. But is the notion necessarily wrong? I'm not sure if there was ever a trade back in the 1930's where the Hamilton Tigers traded a 19-year-old Finnish phenom to the Brooklyn Americans for a 24-year-old goalie who it turned out was already washed up, or just wasn't that good in the first place. But if we're talking about recent history? Most people simply thought "good riddance" when the Bruins traded Andrew Raycroft to Toronto on June 24, 2006 for an unknown goalie prospect with two U's and two K's in his first name. Years later, it truly has become one of the most laughable, lopsided deals in NHL history.

Of course, that trade was made less than a year after the Bruins shipped Joe Thornton to San Jose for Brad Stuart, Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau.

In a vacuum, there's no denying the Thornton trade was worse. Jumbo Joe went on to win the Hart Trophy for the Sharks after the November 30, 2005 deal to San Jose. Thornton put up 20 goals and 72 assists for 92 points in just 58 games with the Sharks that year, and went on to lead the NHL in assists each of the next two seasons. Stuart and Sturm weren't necessarily terrible for the Bruins, but essentially they traded a top-5 center in the prime of his career for a no. 3 defenceman and a fringe top-6 forward. And Primeau just flat out sucked.

Fortunately for the Bruins, however, that trade doesn't exist in a vacuum. Sturm was actually a nice piece in the initial rise of this current Bruins run of success, tallying 20+ goals in a season four times in Boston before moving on after 2010. Stuart was dealt during the 2006-07 season, along with Primeau, for Chuck Kobasew and a guy by the name of Andrew Ferrence. Most importantly, however, by moving Thornton and his contract, the Bruins created enough cap space the following summer to sign Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard (the latter not entirely via Thornton savings, but still). Essentially, the trade marked a disappointing end to the 2001-2005 rendition of the Bruins, who had great regular seasons, followed by first round flame-outs in the playoffs. Usually to Montreal.

What can the Maple Leafs say about their decision to take a gamble on Raycroft after the 2005-06 season? On the one hand, "The Razor" had won the Calder Trophy in 2003-04, prior to the lockout. Was it just a sophomore slump? The Bruins had a pretty terrible defensive corps in '05-06, guys like David Tanabe, Jiri Slegr, and a 60-year-old Brian Leetch. Was it simply that Raycroft needed a change of scenery?

As it turns out, no, not at all, the Razor just straight up wasn't very good. He lasted just two seasons in Toronto, allowing more goals than any other goalie in the league his first season (205). He went on to flounder around the league as a backup in Colorado, Vancouver and Dallas, and hasn't played in the league since the end of the 2012 season. (He did, however, have a role in this Bruins vs. Stars game from 2011, posted below as well).

I need to point out again, that Rask hasn't yet played a full 82-game schedule in the NHL. But he's still just 27, and seeing how he has seven years left on his contract, I think that'll change soon. Meanwhile, the Leafs have shuffled through a depressing list of goalies including Vesa Toskala, Jonas Gustavsson, Joey MacDonald, J.S. Giguere, James Reimer, and countless others. They just appeared in the playoffs for the first time since 2004 last season, and, well, we know how that turned out.

The Maple Leafs haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1967, and won't win one because of the Tuukka-for-Razor swap. The Bruins hadn't won a Cup since 1972, and won in 2011, not because of the Joe Thornton trade, but because of corresponding moves. So can we call Tuukka-for-Razor the worst trade ever? I don't see why not.