It was widely believed that Martin Brodeur would retire as a member of the New Jersey Devils and would later take on a role in the Devils’ front office after officially hanging up his skates. That plan flew out the window as Brodeur briefly suited up for the St. Louis Blues and later accepted a job as the team’s assistant general manager.
Why didn’t Brodeur end up with the Devils?
The Hall of Famer opened up about the topic and admitted that he wanted a job in the New Jersey front office. Initially, the Devils didn’t offer Brodeur a job which led him to take a role with the Blues. After that, he held off on accepting a long-term job with the Blues as he had hoped to return to the Devils.
Via NHL.com:
“[The Blues] offered me the job, and I had to think about it a little bit. I would have liked to go back to New Jersey, so it took some time for me to make my decision. But for me to go back there after everything that’s happened in New Jersey lately, I think I made the right move.”
Brodeur stated that he doesn’t think all of the changes in New Jersey are bad, but it’d be strange for him to return to the team with all of the new faces. Instead of coming back to the Devils, it’d feel like he was joining the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Via NJ.com:
“There’s nothing bad that happened with the Devils, at least from my side of things anyway. With all the new faces over there, for me to walk into the arena in New Jersey now would be like walking into any team’s arena for me because everyone is gone.
It would be as if I was joining Pittsburgh instead.”
Though Brodeur working with the Devils seemed like a foregone conclusion, timing and eventual changes shifted his course and led him to a three-year deal with the Blues.
