The year of decision has arrived for the Devils’ all-time great. Martin Brodeur said he hopes this isn’t his swan song in New Jersey, but allows that he might leave if the team is rebuilding.
“We’ll see. I’m looking forward to training camp, getting started on the right foot again, and we’ll see. We’ll see what the season will bring me,” Brodeur told The Post, ready to report with the veterans tomorrow. “I’m open-minded about everything, about my future.
“I want to make sure I make the right decision for myself and my family. I’ll really take my time and see.”
Brodeur, 39, has been the top star of the Devils for more than a decade, now owning NHL records of 625 victories, 116 shutouts and 1,132 games played. He went 23-26-3 last season, his first-ever losing campaign, hampered by knee and elbow injuries, and by his team’s first-half disaster.
His 18-8-2 second half reconfirmed his majesty, and there will undoubtedly be a team or two next summer believing it only needs great goaltending to win a Stanley Cup.
Brodeur is entering the final season of his contract ($5.2 million). He has twice before passed up unrestricted free agency to stay with New Jersey, at a discount. But those Devils were perennial contenders. This is now, and no one knows whether these Devils are last season’s’ 22-2-3 juggernaut or the playoff-missers.
“These two years, this year and last year, it’s different. A lot of young guys and different responsibilities,” Brodeur said. “For me, it’s a lot different.
“I want to be OK with it. Do I want to continue playing with young players? And what kind of team are we going to have? There are a lot of things. I’m looking forward to that challenge. It will be fun, a new coach and we’ll see how it’s going to go.”
Brodeur made it clear he wants to be a career-long Devil, but also made clear that departure next summer is possible. Or a lockout might push him toward retirement.
“I don’t want to put any barriers on my decision,” he said. “I would love to stay forever in New Jersey. That’s my goal.
“Then again, if they’re going a different route, and I feel I want to play, I can’t close these doors. I don’t want to go anywhere, that’s the bottom line.
“And I don’t know if I want to play [at all]. I’m not saying I’m going to play this out and go somewhere. That’s not my intention at all. It might come to that because of circumstances, but I don’t think it will happen.”
The Devils and Brodeur can extend his contract at any time now, but Brodeur, who played golf at St. Andrews’ Old Course among others in Scotland this summer, said neither he nor Lou Lamoriello have started negotiations.
“Nothing has been initiated on either side. I’ve had a lot of conversations with him. He knows I want to just play out the season and check it out,” Brodeur said.
Johan Hedberg, who went 15-12-2 last season, took over for three straight starts in January when a healthy Brodeur was trying to regain his usual form. It was historic, and demonstrated that the Brodeur-less days are coming.
“It’s time to get some goalies ready. It’s real,” Lamoriello said.
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Rookies report today and begin practice tomorrow in Newark, while vets skate first time Saturday . . . Bryce Salvador expects to be cleared to practice and play after inner-ear concussion cost him the entire last season.