Martin Brodeur sees the Devils’ latest move as more than a splash. To him, it was the kind of swing a team makes when the timing finally lines up with the talent.
New Jersey added Connor Hellebuyck because, in Brodeur’s view, the roster has reached the stage where standing pat at goalie no longer made sense. The Devils’ executive vice president of hockey operations said the club’s core is in the right age range now, and that the organization was ready to act.
“It’s like the window of winning,” Brodeur said in an interview with NHL Network on Tuesday. “Our guys are there.
You look at Nico Hischier (27 years old), Jack Hughes (25), Jesper Bratt (28), Timo Meier (30), they’re (mostly) all in their late 20s, with Jack a little younger. But I think it was time for us to make a move like that.
(General manager) Sunny (Mehta) pulled it off, and it’s awesome.”
Hellebuyck wasted no time showing what he can bring. He stopped 17 shots Tuesday in his first victory with New Jersey, a 5-1 win at the Dallas Stars. It was his first NHL game since April 13, coming four days after the Devils acquired him from the Winnipeg Jets in a trade that sent forwards Dawson Mercer and Nick Bjugstad, goalie Nico Daws, the rights to unsigned draft choice Alexander Command, New Jersey’s own second-round pick in the 2029 NHL Draft and its seventh-round selection in the 2027 NHL Draft.
Brodeur knows the position as well as anyone. He played 1,266 games in a 22-season NHL career, 1,259 of them with New Jersey, won the Vezina Trophy four times and lifted the Stanley Cup three times. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.
That background shapes how he views Hellebuyck. Brodeur pointed to the drive that separates elite goalies from everyone else: they want the net, and they want the burden that comes with it.
“I wanted to play every game,” Brodeur said. “I think that’s all the top goalies.
You look at (Igor) Shesterkin of the New York Rangers, (Andrei) Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning. They just want the net.
They just want to play. They want to be a factor.
They want to be the reason why the team is successful. And there’s no difference with Connor.”
The Devils already have Jake Allen, whom Brodeur called “a great luxury” as part of the tandem. But Hellebuyck’s value, Brodeur said, goes beyond the saves he makes.
An established goalie can steady the room in front of him and change how opponents approach the game, Brodeur said. His presence can be felt before the puck even drops.
“You’re just a presence,” Brodeur said. “I think even in the minds of the opponents, they know that they’re going to have to do their best to beat you, and your players just feed off of that.
“It’s a great luxury to have a guy that has a lot of experience, big body, and obviously his track record speaks for itself.”
New Jersey had already tried to shore up the crease, acquiring Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames on June 19, 2024. Markstrom was later traded to the Florida Panthers after last season. When Hellebuyck became available, the Devils saw the chance to make a bigger statement around a roster built on Hischier, Hughes, Bratt and Meier.
Brodeur also praised Mehta, who is in his first season as general manager, for the way he handled the deal.
“Everything that he does is really calculated,” he said. “He doesn’t do anything just off the cuff, and the group that he has around him really is working hard, making sure that he’s got all the information he needs to be able to pull off some of these trades.”
Hellebuyck will still have to settle in with a new defensive group and adjust to a different system after spending his entire NHL career with the Jets. Brodeur doesn’t see that as a major obstacle.
“Elite goalies are elite goalies,” Brodeur said. “You could put them in any kind of situation and they’ll succeed.
“We’re looking at the big picture with him. Definitely excited to have him on board.”
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