As far as round up of what's out there for Martin Brodeur, well, James O'Brien at Cycle Like Sedins has already done that task by seeing what's out there and putting it all together.
He notes my last post about it and I'll emphasize it again: The Devils aren't done with Brodeur's 552nd win and, no, they won't be done after Brodeur's 103rd shutout. The main goal remains the same.
As far as when Brodeur will get a break, it looks to be Wednesday at Carolina (Bubba and Cory may or may not be breathing sighs of relief). According to Chere, Kevin Weekes could very well get his first start since Brodeur's return. Sutter isn't saying - which is a bit odd because he's been upfront about stating whe Brodeur will play. That it's even being discussed is a strong indicator of Weekes getting the nod. I think Weekes will get a shot against the Hurricanes.
"INVESTIGATIVE" REPORTING ASIDE: A quick check at the Devils Ticket Exchange shows that there are 23 tickets available starting at $175 and ranging up to $724.50. Nothing like a potential historic event driving up prices!
A quick search on Ticketmaster shows that only club seats are available - though I can't fully confirm that. I know the $10 seats are sold on game-day and I'm pretty confident those will go as fast as lightning tomorrow. I'm concluding tomorrow is likely going to be a sell-out and that if you don't have a ticket now, you better be willing to pay the price! The moment is a big deal! (Aside within the aside: No, the suites and the restaurant aren't part of the 17,625 attendence. So the Devils could have above that many tomorrow.)
The Devils board at HF has found that EJ Hradek has put together a top 10 of Brodeur moments at ESPN. When ESPN and the whole league is taking notice, it's a big deal!
But let us go back to Martin himself. For Brodeur's own latest words, Gulitti has an extensive set of quotes from the legendary goaltender. Some of this are critical with respect to Brodeur's own view on the record:
"I was able to get there maybe a little quicker than Patrick just because we don't have ties anymore, so there's a winner every single game -- even though in my record I have (105) ties. That's still a lot of ties," he said. "The new goalies won't have that. I don't think it's going to be untouchable. I think people will get there. I think it's all about the amount of games, how generations will perform. I came in and I was able to play a lot of games (986).
"In the history of the game, there's one guy that played more than me and that's Patrick, 1029. So, I'm (43) games away from him and both of us accomplished that. The next one is the next to 500 wins. The goalies will have to play a lot. Depending on if goalies are able to have that workload, if organizations are able to leave a goalie alone for 15 years and say, 'Here's the door. You go on the ice whenever you want.' they might have a chance to be close to it."
But most importantly, where his focus is:
Is this the greatest record a goaltender can have?
"I think so. It's all about winning. I'll say it again. It's not just about the goaltender. It's about the team. As a team, we've spent 15 years with that many games plus more with other guys that chipped in along the way. So, that's a lot of wins."
Exactly. It's always about doing it for the team. It's that mentality along with his talent that has got him this far to begin with. Preview will be up later tomorrow, along with a GameThread. It's going to be a party tomorrow.