Bill Clement

Martin Brodeur is easily one of the five greatest NHL goalies ever, but it would be hard to label the Devils netminder as the greatest ever to play the position even presuming he overtakes Hall of Famer Patrick Roy as the all-time winningest goalie.

One of the reasons Brodeur's stature is not that of the greatest ever between the pipes is because he has played in an era when Dominik Hasek was winning Hart and Vezina Trophies at an incredible clip.

Hasek has won the Hart Trophy awarded to the league's MVP twice, and he's won the Vezina Trophy as the league's outstanding goaltender six times. Brodeur has never won the Hart Trophy, and he's won the Vezina Trophy twice. Roy won three Vezina Trophies.

When he is done playing, Brodeur will be remembered as a happy-go-lucky guy who was immune to pressure. He'll also be remembered as someone who was always approachable, and whose love for playing hockey was always apparent to anyone watching him on the ice or talking with him off of it.

But the 34-year-old Brodeur isn't going to be hanging up his skates anytime soon as in January he signed a six-year contract extension that will pay him $31.2 million. He plans on ending his career with the Devils, an organization he's been with since he was 18.

Brodeur has won three Stanley Cup titles with New Jersey, and there's every indication that much more greatness is still to come from him.

Taking aim at Roy's record
Brodeur has 494 regular-season wins, 57 less than Roy who holds the all-time record. You've got to figure on him eclipsing Roy's total of 551 regular-season wins in 19 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens and the Colorado Avalanche.

In his 13 full NHL seasons, Brodeur has averaged almost 40 wins. He's had six seasons of 40 or more wins, including this season when he posted a league-record 48 victories.

Let's say for the remainder of his playing days Brodeur averages 32 wins. At that pace, he would break Roy's record sometime near the midway point of the 2009-10 season.

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Of course, if he averages more than 32 wins a season, he could surpass Roy sometime late in the 2008-09 season. And there's a good chance of that since only three times in his career has Brodeur won fewer 37 games, and those were in his first three full NHL seasons.

He's an example of a player becoming better with age. In his 13th NHL season, it's not just his great talent that keeps him winning. It's other things as well like not getting outworked, and never giving up on a puck or shot.

Pressure, what pressure?
With Brodeur it is never about pressure, but always about his love for the game. His enjoyment of competition, and of participating in the sport of hockey easily eclipses any pressure that he might feel.

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I remember in the Stanley Cup finals in 2003 in Anaheim when Brodeur was involved in one of the most bizarre plays I have ever seen. It was sort of a miracle on ice for the Ducks, and a nightmare for Brodeur and the Devils.

Brodeur came out to play a puck and inexplicably dropped his stick. It fell at the perfect angle to deflect the puck coming at Brodeur into his own goal. I remember wondering how this huge mistake would effect Brodeur moving forward.

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Any other player might have been freaked out by having such a thing happen, but with Brodeur it was as if it never happened. It had no impact on him as the series played out.

Brodeur is able to leave negative events behind better than anybody I have ever seen. His mental toughness has allowed him to bounce back many a time in his career.

And it is his mental toughness and the winning spirit he instills to his teammates that has helped New Jersey win three championships -- including the 2003 Stanley Cup when not even that bizarre and potentially demoralizing play could keep Brodeur and the rest of the Devils from emerging victorious.