Brodeur's snub of Avery the exception

I'm not going to get into all the specifics from tonight's game or from the series, which both ended in disappointment for the Devils. We can go over that stuff all summer if you want.

Martin Brodeur was a focal point in this series from beginning to end. He was bumped and badgered verbally by Sean Avery throughout the season and series. Avery didn't even stop after the series was over, calling Brodeur "fatso" on a postgame interview on MSG.

Normally, I would not defend Brodeur not shaking Sean Avery's hand. It's wrong 99.9 percent of the time.

It was wrong when Scott Stevens and Bobby Holik skipped the handshake line following the 1997 series between the Devils and Rangers and claimed afterward that they forgot about it.   

But this is the .1 percent of the time when it wasn't wrong.

If Sean Avery wants to say things about Brodeur's family and his personal life and stare him down face-to-face he can't reasonably expect the guy to shake his hand afterward. Would it have been classy of Brodeur if he had done it anyway? Yes. But it also would have been disingenuous, which was exactly what Avery was.

Brodeur doesn't like Avery and Avery has already said he doesn't like Brodeur. That's fine. It's great for the rivalry. Avery is a pretty good hockey player, but Brodeur obviously thinks he crossed the line. To him, that was something that you just don't forget when a series is over.

As for Brodeur's play in the series, I was the one who asked the question to Brent Sutter. There were some who came to the arena tonight looking to blame Brodeur for the Devils' demise and saw what they wanted. You'll read their columns tomorrow and maybe you'll agree.

I don't. I can't blame Brodeur for any of the goals tonight. Jaromir Jagr's might have been close to questionable if you didn't see it went off the toe of Colin White's skate. As defenseman Mike Mottau said afterward, "It would have been 7-1 in the second period if it wasn't for Marty."

That said, there's no arguing that he was outplayed by Henrik Lundqvist in this series. He needed to be better than he was for the Devils to win. The Devils didn't give him much of a chance to have an impact, though. They made way too many mistakes in front of him.

You guys can make your own judgments, but Brodeur was far from the Devils' biggest problem in this series. Brodeur is one of the best in the world and he's set the standard pretty high, so when he doesn't meet it, people are quick to point the finger of blame. That's their right.

Sutter said he thought Brodeur "tired mentally" in the series. That's probably true. It's hard to face all of those quality shot every night in combination with the physical play of the Rangers and not get worn down. I don't think it had anything to do with him playing the final 46 games of the season.

When asked to assessed his play, Brodeur replied, "Not good if you don't win."

**Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek hijacked the media elevator after the game to make a quick exit from the arena, leaving most of the press stuck at the press level for about 10 minutes after the game ended.

**I've enjoyed this season interacting with the fans and will continue to inform you on everything that's going on as they wrap up the season and head home for the summer. Break-up day will be on Monday, so I'll give you all the comments from Brent Sutter, Lou Lamoriello and the players who might be leaving  (Jay Pandolfo, Sergei Brylin, Bryce Salvador, etc.).

Comments

[mike]

Tom, I loved your blog this season and I hope you throw something up from time to time over the off season.
This was not marty's fault. He has carried this team on his back all year long.
Take care.

[Ben M.]

I completely agree with you TG..

[Jill]

Thanks Tom for a wonderful season of informing us. Beyond disappointed that it's all over.

[bf]

TG,
As I've said before and will many times more, a most sincere, thank you. Some people who are fans of other teams, or even this one, may think some of the questions you are asked and the information you give are trivial but most of us are die hard fans and love the insight you give.

I agree with you about the handshake, it's he game that Avery plays and it does, at times, step over the line. I think Marty and this entire organization are a class act.

Will you be adding to this blog over the summer as transactions are made or does it close for a period of time?

Thanks again

[njdevs231]

Ive had enough of this clown. Good for Brodeur, I noticed it after the game ended looking down at the line. This guy will get his in due time!!

[Steve Lepore]

Tom, it's been an absolute pleasure. Are they asking you to cover the Rangers at all as they move on?

[Ariamus]

I said it before and I'll hold on to it until the day I die...

...the handshake at the end of a NHL playoff series is one of the sacred rituals in all of sports. Every kid in a little league baseball game lines up after the game is done and shakes the opposing team's hand. Every tike in a Pop Warner football game shows his opponent the respect of the same courtesy. But in the pros, only in the NHL do the two teams purposely line up after the contest is done and shake each others' hands.

As such, it is a sacred ritual reserved for warriors doing battle on the ice on equal and fair terms.

Avery is a scumbag and deserves no such respect. Enough said...

...Nit-Wit Rule forever ...! :-D

[Gentlemanofleisure]

There's only one thing more pathetic than being a D-Level Celebrity. That's aspiring to be one. Sean Avery is Jerome Benton. Getting drinks for the Morris Day's of the world and that makes him cool in his mind. Dating Rachel Hunter? She hasn't been attractive in 25 years but he's got room to talk? Mary Kate Olsen? She hasn't worked in 10 years. Avery reads Vogue magazine and that makes him better than hockey fans. Whatever. He's a pile of dung.

If I was Brodeur I would have spit in his face during the handshakes. He showed a lot of class in not doing such.

[Dave]

Thanks TG,

I've enjoyed reading your blog all season and you've posted a lot of information and i look forward to reading it during the offseason and next season as well. I agree Brodeur looked mentally beat during his post game, and i have no problem with what he did after the game as the situation with Avery is not great and i'm sure Avery was just doing it because that's what you are "supposed" to do out of respect, but Brodeur does not respect him so why fake it? Some are making a much bigger deal out of it than they should be. Also idk if anyone agrees but it seems like he just doesn't have the confidence in the players in front of him and his team in general so he tries to do too much and sometimes it hurts him in the end. I think without Marty this year playing as much as he did we don't make the playoffs, i just hope Lou does something useful this offseason for once.

[Al]

Thank You for this year Tom! Marty is STILL the best in the world ..by far. Lundqvist has one of the most overrated glove hands I've ever seen and they can't even play him against the Flyers he's so overrated. The Rangers are a better team as a whole then the Devils. However, no one is better than Marty and most importantly as a person.

Thanks Tom and once and for all:
"MARTY'S BETTER!!!"

Finally as a season ticket holder, from Philly who could not make tonight's game, THANK YOU to Chico Resch for his end of the game tirade. Marty DESERVES a better fan base. Quite honestky, I never though last summer we would make the playoffs, in a transition year. The Devils did much better than ANYONE expected.

Marty's the Best and so are you at your job Tom. In many aspectes, you both deserve better! Thanks Marty, Thanks Devs for a overachieving season and again thank you Tom and Chico.

[Scotty K]

Pando will be back..Honestly..i cant see sarge..as much as I love him..or Bryce being back...Sally wasnt near what we thought he would be in this series.

[Jason]

You can not be serious commending Chico's tirade? Chico's incessant whining is the reason we Devils fans get no respect. He is washed up. Time to bid him farewell and bring Dano up to the booth.

[Jason]

If Marty is so deserving of a better fan base, then let him go play somewhere else. Right now, he deserves nothing, because he is at home watching the second round.

[brian]

thanks tg for the coverage. i didnt know avery hit home like that with brodeur. one thing i ask though. whenever you post the summary of all game 5 interviews and comments is there a way you could post a link to the actual audio/video if there is one. i would like to hear it all without being taking out of context.
again thanks for all and cant wait for off season coverage of hopefully good news!!

[Scott]

Great job this year TG, really enjoyed your blog. As you said you really cant fault Marty for the series, at times the whole team seemed to play unmotivated and left him out to dry. I can only think of about 4-5 players who seemed to play all out on every shift.

[InterchangeableParts]

TG, we cannot thank you enough for the excellent work you've done with this blog this year! Also, thanks for the very reasonable and fair look at the handshake situation. Reason and fairness seem to be two qualities missing from a lot of the analysis of this series, so it's refreshing to hear your take on it.

[Alzheimers]

Thanks for the great blog, Tom -- Have a great summer, and we'll see you in the fall.

[Jason]

Wow, sorry, but I just can't believe Al's post was 3 whole paragraphs of crap. I mean, i read the first paragraph of crap, and i posted, thinking, there is no way he would follow it up with 2 more, but alas, he did. So, in addition to the previous 2 responses, let me say this to you Al. You must have some serious esteem issues, if you felt this team "over-achieved". A team that hasn't missed the playoffs in 11 years, makes the playoffs as a 4 seed and gets thumped 4-1, and you call that "overachieving?" Wow dude. You must live a very humble life.

[bf]

TG,

Does anyone show up at the stadium on breakdown day (meaning fans). I say let them be but I know a couple of co-workers will be asking.

Thanks again

[aarrghhh]

I agree 100% with your assessment on Brodeur. Going further, Jagr set up White for a screen on that shot, he shot where White was. He played White the entire series. Very smart player, might not give it 100% all the time, but he knows what he's doing.

The coverage was putrid in the 1st period and for the most part, for the entire series. It was even more putrid because they were the better team in the first and couldn't be bothered to cover their own end. The Rozsival goal was a joke, no one took anyone, stood there and watched.

I don't know if anyone is watching Washington play, but the Devils and Washington are in the same boat, they are not giving their goalies an opportunity to win the game, just allowing passes and plays that you wouldn't see allowed by AHL players.

I think Sutter is spot on too, it's obviously getting to him. They better put a team around him or they're going to watch the Roy situation replay itself.

[Xander Crews]

Ok sorry for spelling errors but im alittle drunk. We had a party tonight. All i want to say is thank you TG. I found this blog by accident alittle before allstar break and its now my default home page. Thank you so much for what you do for us Devils fans. You deserve something but i dont know what since im drunkish. Just please keep it up and know that im sure i speak for everyone when i say we really love what you do and do appricate it.

Now on to Brody/Avery... Avery can say what he wants. Fact is Brody is a hall of famer with 3 cups and probably the best ever in his position while Avery is not even in the top 100 at his position not at all a hall of famer and has 0 cup rings. In 10 year only one of them will even be know and its not Avery.

Good Night all and thanks to everyone on this site for the talk even the people i disagreed with.

[chico1]

TG keep up the good work...great blog.
I agree 100%, sean avery is garbage.

[Jason]

I hate Avery as well, and we can rip him all we want, but truth be old if Avery has half the series he did in this series, and the rangers go all the way, he will be a serious contender for the Conn Smythe.

[Matt]

Just to pile on... thanks for some amazing work this season. When I get some of the Devils hockey out of my system, I plan to go back and read through the posts from start to finish. It could be interesting, if not frustrating like this season was for me.

[jules]

Thank you, Tom, for making a point to defend Brodeur. I feel the same way...and Avery isn't helping his case, either. It's tough for Marty, hopefully Lou will be very active this offseason.

Thanks also for your excellent work on this blog. We really appreciate it.