New look, Web site for Brodeur (updated with quotes)

Martin Brodeur is testing out a new mask today in practice. It has a slightly different design with the logo "MB30", which was designed by his brother, Denis, on top.

Here's two photos provided by the New Jersey Devils. You can see a larger image by clicking on the link.

Download newmask_lg.jpg

Also, Brodeur will be launching a new Web site of his own on Friday -- MartinBrodeur30.com -- as he takes up his pursuit of Patrick Roy's all-time wins record. He needs 14 wins to pass Roy. That's the logo for the Web site on the top of his new mask. Brodeur's brother, Denis, and friend, Guy, will be doing a lot of the work on the site, which will be in French and English.

Brodeur had the same mask design -- with the Devils' logo minus the N -- since his first full NHL campaign in 1993-94. The idea at the time was that he wasn't sure if he would be in Albany or New Jersey that season, so he took off the N.

"That's why there's not a real New Jersey logo on it," he said.

He said he has had only five Devils masks, including that first one -- all with pretty much the same design, until now.

"Nobody came up to me to try to change it," he said. "I didn't want to make a huge change on it. It was something my brother worked on and designed. I thought it was pretty cool, so we decided to change it.

"When I thought about it that, 'I can't believe I'm going to change it. I've played for so long with it.' Then, I thought about it. I've had some success with a Team Canada helmet on my head. So, you've got to change it up. In the middle of the summer, I thought about it. When I saw the designs my brother was doing, I thought it was really cool and I thought, 'I wonder if I could put that on my helmet.' Then, next thing you know, with photo shop, (Denis) put a picture of my face with the helmet and he superimposed everything and it looked all right. That's really how it happened. I was not really thinking about doing a change. It was a spur of the moment thing."

You can read more about the mask and Brodeur's Web site on newjerseydevils.com

http://devils.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=385442

What do you guys think? Post your comments below.

I asked Brodeur if he had to get Lou Lamoriello's approval to put the MB30 logo on his mask and he said, "I don't know. I didn't get it yet. It's not a big change."

When I told Brodeur after today's practice that the initial response about the change was mostly negative, he said, "People don't like change. Some people will think it's great. Other people will think it's different. Other goalies are changing. You had (Roberto) Luongo playing with two different masks last year because of different jerseys he was playing with. Guy are changing all the time. I just never changed. I never got traded, so I couldn't really change (laughs)."

Broduer did win 538 games before changing his design and is keeping one mask with the old design just in case.

"Like I told my brother, 'I'll be wearing it, but if something goes really bad, I might have to go back to the old faithful."

The plan is also to sell merchandise with the MB30 logo on it -- Denis was wearing a black baseball cap with the red logo on it today -- on the Web site.

"Eventually, there will be stuff on the Web site for it," he said. 

By the way, Patrik Elias will also be launching his Web site on Friday. It's eliaspatrik.com. But it will be only in Czech at first. Elias said it will eventually have an English translation, but that's still in the works.

***

Can we start the season already? I've had enough of watching practices.

Everyone is on the ice for today's practice and the line combinations appear to be the same. Petr Vrana has on a green jersey as the extra forward. Extra defensemen Andy Greene and Sheldon Brookbank are also wearing green.

Right wing Barry Tallackson held off from skating today. Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said Tallackson, who had surgery on Sept. 26 to correct an irregular heartbeat, would skate Thursday morning.

There's no update on Fedor Fedorov's status yet. Lamoriello told me yesterday that Fedorov would probably be assigned to Lowell.

Comments

[Jay]

TG,

Do you know if any Devils use Twitter (twitter.com)? It's a new networking site where members send TXT messages to a twitter phone # which then appear on their twitter page. Other members can follow those "tweets" and receive txt updates if interested.

A lot of famous people have started using it to communicate with fans. For example Dave Matthews: http://twitter.com/DaveJMatthews

If you hear of any players using it please pass that info along!

[KNUCKLEPUCKHEAD]

Ummmm.. I don't think I'd be interested in txt messages from Dave Matthews or hockey players.. And I'd also hope that the Devils have better things to do than sending out "tweets" like a bunch of schoolgirls

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

PLEASE tell me someone, ANYONE saw sportscenter today, and Sean Avery's interview with Rachel Nicholls where he tells the world that he played with dolls and enjoyed dressing them up, and went PURSE shopping with Rachel Nicholls? i will leave it open for discussion, but i gotta say i think its HILARIOUS i mean i never liked the guy, but i guess its a comfort to me that he could help my wife pick out the right purse to go with her formal evening wear

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

by the way, i don;t like the idea of changing the mask design. He has had it for so long why change now? i mean i know he is going to become the winningest goaltender in NHL history this year but all the same why fix it if it ain't broke?

[Kelly]

Marty? A new mask? Never! I can only see this as a promotional idea for his site. I really can't see him wearing it for the full season. I like the detailing but it's just a no for me.

I saw the Avery interview. He's very in tune with his feminine side. I'm just leaving it at that.

[Mike M]

I'm not in love with the new mask design.

[Mike M]

I'm not in love with the new mask design.

[FOTC]

Ugh, if he was going to go with a new mask, he should have started from scratch. I don't like it at all, it doesn't look right. Please TG, use your powers to persuade him to keep the old one. Please!!!!

[Jeff]

Not a big Fan of the mask it takes away the Team first aspect removing the logo in place of the MB 30

[Dan]

I saw the Avery thing. Did Sportscenter show the entire interview? It was on E:60 last night and on the show he brings her on the ice and pretends she's Brodeur and shows her what lead to the Avery Rule.

[Pete]

If he had done this in like 1998, no big deal. But he's worn the same mask all this time, it just doesn't look right if he changes now. If he's gonna change though, he should at least have done the "fire" along the sides and chin part to look like actual fire like he did back in 1995. I dunno what happened but somewhere along the way it turned from looking like fire to some kind of leaf thing.

[Angry L Torro]

I really do not like this new mask. It seems too cluttered. Brodeur has had the same mask for too many years to change it now. The new one seems to put him ahead of the team.

I mean I love Brodeur and I wouldn't ever want him off the team but I just can't stand the new mask.

[Frisby]

I think it's kinda cool, if it's something he's going to auction off for charity. But I really hope he does not wear that thing during any game this season. A Marty Brodeur without an "N"-less Devils logo on the top of his mask is just not Marty Brodeur to me.

[mikeK]

Green practice jerseys? I'd like one...

[HBK27]

I like the new mask. It might be a little odd to see at first because we're so used to seeing him in the other mask, but I think this is a positive change. I was never really a big fan of the current design anyway with the J instead of NJ. I understand why he did it, but always thought he could've updated the design once it became clear he was going to remain in NJ.

I like the MB30 design & that he kept the rest of the mask the same. More importantly though, I like the fact that Marty's doing something to promote himself as he approaches the all-time win record. Most of us fans complain that the Devils don't do enough to market the team & its players or that the team doesn't get enough press...so it's good to see Marty doing something to help promote himself & the team. If a new mask helps promote that...why not.

[Scott E]

I'm not crazy about it either. It's cluttered, distorted, and just plain messy.

I wonder if the team is permitting this as a way of "testing the waters" that could lead to more promotional opportunities (i.e. a third jersey, an alternate logo??).

But I agree with many of the previous comments. This flies in the face of the "team first" philosophy. Brodeur, through his excellence on the ice, has given the "J-hook" design plenty of identity. Just as Nike no longer needs to put its four letters above the swoosh, Marty doesn't need to label his iconic logo.

Then again, if Marty Brodeur asks for something like this, will the team say no? I doubt it.

[NJSwampdragon]

Hey TG,
Do you know where someone can purchase a Brodeur game-used mask from or where they are auctioned off at? I heard sometimes Brodeur has had his equipment auctioned off for charity. I have a game-used Brodeur jersey, but haven't seen any of his old equipment, other than sticks, on the block.

[Jim]

I don't believe he has gone through too many actual masks, since most goalies just have new padding installed and replace the cages and straps when they wear out. There might only be two or three game used masks out there.

I have a game used stick, I'm happy with that.

[DevilsFan38]

The design is cool, but I'm not a fan of the new mask. The old design served him well through 500+ wins and I think he should stick with it. It just looks wrong to see anything different.

[Pat D'Amico]

Definitely going to take some getting used to.

[Jason]

Wow...what a sellout.

[George]

The new mask is nice, but like many other people have said it takes away from the team first mentality of this organization. It makes it seem like its a one man team, and that's not what its about. The team logo should be on there somewhere.

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

i saw the whole avery interview and i saw him demonstrate his tactics against brodeur on nicholls, what a jacka$$, and BTW he called marty "fatso" a couple of times which really ticks me off. Who the hell is he at the end of the day. Some guy that got lucky to get a ring by being a marginal player on a great team, who likes to play dress-up with dolls. what a loser

[modnarm]

MARTY MARTY MARTY!!!! what r u thinking??? Don't go through with this.
His mask has promoted the Devils since the beginning. Not cool. Team first.

[Kelly]

The more I keep thinking about it, the more I'm getting annoyed by the concept. You gotta love Marty but the MB30 isn't working on top. Marty's mask is a real classic. If he really wants to go for a new look, just ugrade what he has now by putting some accents on there. I personally liked his 04 World Cup mask so if he used that concept, that would certainly be an upgrade compared to this one. He can keep the MB30 for the back with his kids initials and cups.

Please tell Marty not to keep the MB30 on top. An upgrade to what he had would be nice but this just isn't working at all.