With the Devils 3-2 win over the Flyers tonight, goaltender Martin Brodeur set a new record for wins by a goaltender in a single season with 48.As you can imagine, the mainstream media, New Jersey Devils, their fans, and the NHL itself, is going to play this up as the "world's bestest achievement".
What is on the note? "YOUR RECORD IS TAINTED" ??Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils had a record-setting night against the worst team in the NHL.
Brodeur surpassed Bernie Parent, Philadelphia's stalwart Stanley Cup-winning goalie, for wins in a season with 48 and the Devils clinched the Atlantic Division title with a 3-2 win over the Flyers on Thursday night."I think with him being an icon as far as goalies for the Flyers, to go into Philly and do it here, I couldn't write it a lot better than that," Brodeur said.
"This is his year," said Parent, his retired No. 1 hanging from the rafters. "He's played fantastic hockey. It couldn't have happened to a more fantastic individual."
Parent sent a personal note that Brodeur said he would read at home.
Look, anyone with some semblance of individual thought knows that Brodeur's record is a sham. Parent, classy as he is, has a right, if he wishes, to be pissed off that he's lost his record thanks to the advent of the shootout.
In an earlier post here at The Fanhouse Jon "JP" Press offered his take:,Brodeur has won a League-high 10 of those games in shootouts. Bernie Parent won, well, none of his games in shootouts, but did tie a dozen games that year -- games that would have gone to the shootout had they existed. It's a safe bet that Parent, that year's Vezina Trophy winner as the League's best goalie, would have won enough of those shootouts that we wouldn't even be talking about Brodeur closing in on his record right now, much less tying or breaking it.
... is the record legitimate or does it deserve the dreaded asterisk?
An asterisk? No, I don't believe that's quite right. The record is tainted, yes, but not because of Brodeur's doing.
You know how baseball has 'modern' records and 'old time' records? Perhaps the NHL should adopt a classification for New NHL records, such as Brodeur's wins record. The New NHL has added a whole new whack of oddities to the mix, and manipulated the standings. Having a team achieve 100 points in a season isn't quite the achievement it used to be. Instead of a bunch of *****, just have a New NHL set of records for some categories, and another for traditional records.
Anyone got a better idea?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-06-2007 @ 11:00AM
Kevin Giglio said...
well i guess if this record is a sham and deserves an asterisk then i guess we better call every player who has ever gotten a second assist a sham too since the NHL implemented that. Or Crosby's 2 straight years of 100 point seasons...can you imagine what mario or gretzky's point totals would be if they were given the chance to play in the new NHL where rules were changed to help offensive players?? How come no one ever complains about that?
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4-06-2007 @ 1:32PM
B_Washington said...
Gretzky and Lemieux both played mainly in era's where rules were called correctly and the style of play was condusive to offense. the pointes per game in their primes were much higher than Crosby's.
And it would be naive to not acknowledge that Brodeur's mark was set using different rules that Parent's, even though I wouldn't call it tainted like Golbez does
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5-15-2007 @ 8:20PM
jwbecotte said...
I am a liflong Flyers fan and the last thing I would want to see is a Devil break this record. But it is well deserved. First of, to assume Parent would have won 10 of 12 shootouts is definately a long shot. And secondly, the league has more parody as a result of the salary cap. The Flyers had a very soft schedule the year that Parent set the record. Six of the eight teams in their division were .500 or worse. Only two out of the ten teams in the Eastern Conference were below .500 this year. Now Brodeur did play five more games than Parent, but I still think that given all the facts his record is far from tainted.
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5-15-2007 @ 8:22PM
jwbecotte said...
I am a liflong Flyers fan and the last thing I would want to see is a Devil break this record. But it is well deserved. First of, to assume Parent would have won 10 of 12 shootouts is definately a long shot. And secondly, the league has more parody as a result of the salary cap. The Flyers had a very soft schedule the year that Parent set the record. Six of the eight teams in their division were .500 or worse. Only two out of the ten teams in the Eastern Conference were below .500 this year. Now Brodeur did play five more games than Parent, but I still think that given all the facts his record is far from tainted.
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