For the first time in over twenty years, Martin Brodeur was not officially affiliated with the Devils for almost twenty hours. That surprising uncertainty is over now, with the news just minutes ago from RDS in Canada that Brodeur has re-upped with the only franchise he's ever known on a two year, $4.5 million per deal. Until Marty speaks, we won't know his motivations for going UFA but rumors suggest he did want a second year from the Devils, and according to Darren Dreger last night finally got it. Obviously a real bit of interest from the Blackhawks helped move the proceeding along.
Yeah I'd rather not have gone two years given Marty's age and the cap rules for 35+ contracts, but if you can't make an exception for Marty Brodeur after all the money he's left on the table for you and the championships/wins he's gotten for this franchise then I'm sorry, you don't deserve a shred of loyalty from anyone else that comes down the pike. Unfortunately, too many Devils fans are taking the cold business aspect to it...thank goodness GM Lou Lamoriello recognizes that to get loyalty from players, you have to give it yourself.
What Marty signing means for our other key FA at the moment, it's hard to guess. Since Zach Parise supposedly wasn't making a decision until later today after talking with his fiancee last night, I don't know if this sudden 'gold watch' offer to Marty was an admission the Devils were out of the Parise sweepstakes. It could be nothing more than a realization that we've made our best offer to the captain and whatever happens from here happens. Either way, we should have that answer soon.
As far as the rest of free agency, not much happened last night other than another laughable contract for Sheldon Souray in Anaheim and defenseman Jason Garrison inking a six-year, $4.6 million a year deal with his hometown Canucks, allegedly taking a discount to go there. Apparently the rest of the market is frozen until Parise and Ryan Suter make their decisions today.
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