See, Brodeur has won 27 shootouts, putting his real win number at 525.
(I see people comparing this to Roger Maris, which is completely untrue. First off, Maris played like 8 more games than Ruth did. It would be comparable if Major League Baseball added an extra inning to every game. Brodeur won an extra 27 games from 2005-2009 that would have been ties for Roy. Second, this milestone is not nearly as important as Ruth's record was. If you asked me before this year what the record for wins was, I would not have known.)
What also is a lie is his "record" of 48 victories in one season, "breaking" Bernie Parent's record. The record was 47, Brodeur has 48 in 2006-07, yet 10 of them were in the shootout. Technically, he wouldn't have even broken 40 if this were pre-lockout years.
I'm not an opponent of the shootout. In fact, I hated ties with a passion and thought they were killing hockey (along with the two-line pass rule, the New Jersey Devils, and Jacques Lemaire). Nothing was worse than seeing a 1-1 hockey game. Unfulfilling. And Lord knows my Rangers need shootouts to make the playoffs, and Henrik Lundqvist's 4-straight 30-win seasons (a record to start a career) was definitely amplified by the tiebreaker.
And yes, Brodeur will eventually break the record cleanly. He plays 70 games a year when healthy. I would also say he legitimately has 3 or 4 more seasons in him as a starter, so that's atleast 100 more regulation/overtime wins without shootouts.
Before Devils fans learn to read and come on this website and bash me for being a Brodeur hater...
1) I don't particularly like Brodeur. I've met him in person, and he has an awful personality. I think he's childish, he takes dives, he whines, and there's a reason he sits alone on the buses after games.
2) I understand he's a great goaltender. I don't think he was as good as Roy was. But I know he should eventually own this record outright, just next season.
I just wish the coronation of Brodeur to God-like levels by the NHL would stop.
I guess the practical comparison to the Roger Maris asterisk would be if shootout goals counted toward a player's career totals and someone one day got to 895 with like 50 of them being in the shootout. Or, more appropriately, someone getting 93 goals in a season, but in 82 games. And Brodeur getting more wins than Bernie Parent in the shootout era, when Brodeur plays 75 games a year, is kind of like calling Lawrence Taylor the best linebacker ever because he had the most sacks, even though sacks weren't recorded when many of the greats played.
ReplyDeleteI'm not for all this glad-handling of Brodeur, either. I can't trash him that much for breaking this record because truth be told, he'll get those extra 28 wins within the year. I'm not even going to jump on the whole "Devils' system" bandwagon. I just think this is an opportunity for the NHL to sell itself because it's a milestone. For that, I'll give them credit. However, I will not give credit to the media for proclaiming Brodeur as the "best ever" just because he played for a team that won a lot of games. I still maintain Roy is better because he played in an era where there were a ton more goals and his stats are still comparable with the all-time greats.