St. Louis Blues Promote Martin Brodeur to Assistant General Manager
After recent speculation that the St. Louis Blues would retain Martin Brodeur in their front office, the team confirmed the retention of the probable future Hall of Fame goaltender on Wednesday, promoting him to the role of assistant general manager and giving him a three-year contract.
Brodeur joined the Blues organization last winter, when he was brought in to fill a goaltending void following a late November injury to Brian Elliott. After Elliott returned and Brodeur’s playing time was compromised, the 43-year-old decided to call it a career and move into the front office. He finished the year as a special advisor to general manager Doug Armstrong, continuing to be around the team while also becoming involved in front office decisions.
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There had been earlier speculation that Brodeur would return to the organization he had been with for nearly his entire career, the New Jersey Devils, and become a face of the franchise as a “lifelong Devil”, in the same way that guys like Brett Hull and Al MacInnis have in St. Louis. After the Devils decided to hire a new GM, Ray Shero, with whom Brodeur had no relationship, Brodeur chose to stick in St. Louis for the foreseeable future as he begins his career off the ice.
With his new role, Brodeur moves away from the more honorary role that he had last season and more towards a legitimate decision-making position. He talked on Wednesday about being involved in meetings and contributing to the team’s offseason personnel efforts with the draft and prospect camp. With the respect that Brodeur garners in the hockey world and his obvious desire to be involved in an influential front office role, it’s a good bet that the legendary goaltender will have a general manager job in the NHL at some point if he wants one.