Cooking the Record Books

Let me first say, Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur is one of, if not the greatest goaltender in the NHL today. He is without a doubt a first round Hall of Fame ballot selection. He deserves serious consideration for the Hart Memorial Trophy as MVP of the season. Without Brodeur, it's very likely the Devils would be scheduling tee times right now instead of preparing for a first round playoff match up with the Tampa Bay Lightning*. He faced the most shots in the league, and has the highest save percentage of all starting goaltenders.

That being said, it is an absolute crime that the NHL Record Book will remember Brodeur as the goalie with the highest regular season victory total.

With a 3-2 victory over the league worst Flyers on Thursday night, Martin Brodeur picked up his 48 win, passing Flyer's great Bernie Parent for the highest regular season win total. However, Brodeur accomplished this with a considerable advantage Parent never had, the shoot-out victory.

During the 1973-74 season Parent lead the Flyers to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history with a 47-13-12 record. 47 wins, only 13 losses, and 12 of those old fashioned things called ties. Ties that in today's NHL would be settled in a shootout.

Martin Brodeur went 48-23. 38 wins this year came in regulation or overtime. The other 10 came from shootouts.

While the numbers may remember Brodeur as passing Parent's regular season record this year, the truth is this isn't even Brodeur's greatest season. In 1999-2000 he won 43 games, lost only 17, and has 11 ties.

Right now it's a feel good story, one of today's best has surpassed one of yesterday's greats. There will be video montages, probably a ceremony or two, and it'll play great for the crowd. But without a doubt, someone will break it in the next few years. Perhaps they'll break 50. And Parent will drop a spot lower in the books, despite putting together what was the greatest season an NHL goalie has ever played.