Ex
Martin Brodeur will be spending his Thanksgiving alone in a St. Louis hotel room and, for that, he is thankful.
The former Devils goaltender had to scrap his plans to spend today with family in New Jersey when the call came from the Blues asking him if he'd be interested in coming in for a few days to practice with the team. So, he will be hopping on a plane this morning to head to St. Louis and will be on the ice with the Blues for their morning skate prior to Friday's game against Edmonton.
'It's a great opportunity,' Brodeur said. 'It's a great hockey team with a coach (Ken Hitchcock) that I know real well. Kirk Muller is an assistant coach there too that I have a relationship with. It's pretty nice for me to get an opportunity to get on the ice and skate for a little while with them.'
Brodeur, the NHL's all-time leader in wins and shutouts, has been out of work this season after exploring the free agent market for a situation that fit for him to continue his career for one final season. With Blues goaltender Brian Elliot injuring his knee Tuesday night against Ottawa, the team reached out to the 42-year-old future Hall of Famer's agent, Pat Brisson Wednesday morning.
'It happened pretty quickly,' Brodeur said. 'Brian Elliott got hurt last night, so they called me agent in the morning to see if I was interested to come into practice for a while and see where I'm at and see if something can happen in the next few days with them.'
After deciding to move on from the Devils following the 2013-14 season to clear the way for Cory Schneider to be the team's unquestioned No. 1 goaltender, Brodeur was looking for join a team, preferably in the Western Conference, that could give him a chance to contend for another Stanley Cup - either as a No. 1 or a backup - and reach 700 wins.
With 688 for his career, Brodeur needs only 12 more wins to reach that mark. The Blues, who are 14-6-2 and tied with Nashville for first place in the Central Division, were one of a handful of teams that greatly interested Brodeur.
Hitchcock announced Wednesday that Elliott is out 'week to week.' Elliot apparently will not need surgery, so it's unclear how long the Blues will need Brodeur's services. With Elliott injured, however, rookie Jake Allen is the only goaltender in the Blues organization with NHL experience.
Brodeur, who has a previous relationship with Hitchcock from their experiences together on the Canadian Olympic teams in 2002, 2006 and 2010, is the NHL's all-time leader with 1,259 games.
'I'm glad that something came up,' Brodeur said. 'It couldn't be a better team. It was definitely one of the top teams that I was looking at through the summertime as far as with the two (goaltenders) - Brian Elliott and Jake Allen. Jake is a young guy, so it was kind of a pretty good fit.
'But, you needed an injury. You never like that. It gives me a little break for them to look at me, so we'll see.'
Brodeur had been skating this past week at Prudential Center with unsigned center Scott Gomez while the Devils were away on their four-game road trip to Western Canada. Gomez, who attended training camp with the Devils as a tryout and is still hoping they will sign him,
practices with the team when it is home, but is not permitted to go on road trips because he is not under contract.
The Blues don't have a lot of time for full practices over the next week. They will have a morning skate Friday and Brodeur might accompany them to Minnesota for their game their Saturday so he can skate with the team again there.
Brodeur will likely have ice time on Sunday and then practice Monday and Tuesday in St. Louis before heading to Chicago for a game there Wednesday.
Brodeur said a decision on whether he will be signed likely be made Tuesday before the Blues leave for Chicago.
'It will be at least three or four times I'll be able to be on the ice with the team somehow,' Brodeur said. 'I'm not sure if I'm going to Minnesota or not, but I know I have to be there 10:30 on Friday.'
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