NJ Devils Online
NEW JERSEY - Lifelong New Jersey Devil, Martin Brodeur has resigned with the team that he's spent all of his professional career with for another 4 years.
Martin Brodeur, 33, and the New Jersey Devils Organization have announced the club's resigning of the franchise goaltender. The two sides reached an agreement on Saturday after a few days of talks which reportedly started with the New Jersey Devils asking Martin Brodeur to take a paycut. The new contract will place Brodeur, the best goaltender in the OTHL and arguably the most valuable player as well, with the Devils for the next four years. Financial terms were disclosed, stating Brodeur will make $9.25 million a year (a 15% raise) making him the highest paid goaltender in the league. In addition, a signing bonus over $4 million was cited to bring Brodeur's total contract value to over $41 million for the next 4 years.
The 33 year old Brodeur, accepted the contract along with a No Trade Clause to ensure he would remain with the club that drafted him and that he has belonged to while racking up several achievements throughout his career. Brodeur, an elite 'tender, considered potentially to be the best ever to play the game with his amazing puck handling abilities and overall flawless game. The workhorse's career boasts several achievements, including 3 Stanley Cup rings, 2 Vezina trophies, 4 William Jennings trophies, an Olympic Gold Medal, 9 All-Star appearances and a Calder Memorial Trophy. With 403 Career Wins under his belt and a career 2.17 GAA, the resigning of Brodeur is huge for the Devils organization.
"We're very happy to have [Martin] Brodeur resigned for the next four years, coming into this job [as GM of the Devils], I assessed what needed to be done, resigning Martin was a top priority. The rumours about us asking Martin to initially take a paycut are true, however we do not blame Martin for rejecting our initial offer. He is the best goaltender in the league, if not the best player in the league, his salary should reflect that. It was selfish of us to ask Martin for a paycut even though we're in a difficult financial situation. This is our hole to dig ourselves out of, and it was unfair of us to ask Martin to do it for us, we have to stick to building this team around Martin and making accomodations for him, and not expect him to accomodate to us. Regardless, we're ecstatic to have Martin aboard for the next 4 years.", said GM, Tom Poraszka at the news conference.
The signing of Brodeur which included a raise of over $1 million, puts the Devils now five and a half million above the league salary cap, a situation that many OTHL teams seem to be finding themselves in. When asked how his team would deal with the situation, GM Tom Poraszka simply said, "We'll be fine, we got something up our sleeves, there's still a fair bit of time and we feel confident that we can find ourselves under the cap shortly. If not, we have a backup plan that we'll execute if necessary.". With the signing of Martin Brodeur, the Devils have taken the biggest pending free agent name off the market for the next 3 offseasons, and find themselves with one less goal to complete on the road to building a dynasty.