Brodeur in shock, vows to be back (completed)

The idea that Martin Brodeur will miss three to four months because of a torn distal biceps tendon in his left elbow is still something her needs to get used to.

"I'm in shock a little bit, but I don't feel too bad," the Devils goaltender said this afternoon. "This is something that I didn't see coming, but I understand the whole process of it. We took our time. We didn't make a decision on it right away. We made sure we saw a few doctors and we did our homework about the surgery that is going to be done." 

Brodeur will have surgery Thursday morning. He said the tendon was torn completely off the bone in his elbow when he attempted to make that glove save in the second period on Saturday night against Atlanta.

“I just extended my arm real quick and I just felt a pop and a stabbing kind of feeling in my bicep,” Brodeur said. "From there, I knew something was wrong."

He said the doctors told him it will be about eight weeks before he can start moving his arm and being his rehab. He also said the doctors area confident that once his tendon is healed, "it's not something that will recoccur at all."

Here's the rest of what Brodeur had to say on a conference call that was completed a few minutes ago (other than the questions in French):

On whether the team can make the playoffs with out him:

“I hope so. That’s the question that will be answered in the next few months. I’m really confident, especially in the way we’ve been playing. We’ve had a few hiccups here and there, but Kevin (Weekes) is a great goalie. He proved it in the past and now he has a chance to do it over again playing in front of a good team.”

 

On whether he initially knew his injury was a significant one:

"I continued to play for a good minute after that and I took my arm and tried t move it up a little bit and I knew it was damaged. There was something wrong with it. But when I left the ice and went into the locker room there was not much swelling, there was not much cramping, not that much pain. It was just that i had a hard time moving or supinating my wrist. That's not a good sign. The doctors were there right away and they looked at it. There was no swelling, no discoloration, so I just hoped that it was wrong until we got the tests back and the doctors looked at it and told me I needed surgery.”

 

On the possibility of putting off surgery and playing with the injury:

"That’s one of the reasons we took so much time. We wanted to make sure I needed surgery. I didn’t want to have surgery if I didn’t need to, but they feel it’s the best way to repair what I have and that’s why we took the time to verify everything.”

 

On whether he's in pain:

"No. Not at all. That's the worst part about it. That's why it took a while to make a decision and verify with all of the officials we saw in the last couple of days because there was no swelling, no discoloration of my skin and no real pain. I do hafve some pain in moving my wrist around a little bit because of the tendon being detached from the bone there, but nothing crazy. That's why we wanted to make sure what we had was a complete tear so the only thing was getting the surgery."

 

Is the injury similar to Kevin Weekes?

"Kevin was not completely torn off. Mine was, so I guess it's totally different in the way they approach the surgery."

 

On putting off his chase of Patrick Roy's wins record:

“Hopefully, I’ll come back healthy and with enough games to be able to reach it this season.. But right now that’s way outside my thinking process. I’m excited to be so close and I know it’s a hard thing to do and this just proves you have to be healthy to do it. It's definitely I didn't see coming, but it is what it is. You have to deal with it and we'll hopefully beat (the record) eventually.”

 

On what the rehab will be and the timetable:

"Who knows how I'm going to respond to everything, but the rehab is pretty simple. It's just a question of a getting the surgery done, getting it immobilized for a while and after that start working towards getting better. They say it's going to take about eight weeks before I'm going to be able to really move it and start making movements and rehabbing it and getting some strength in it and then after that it depends on how everything responds. I'm going to take my time to make sure everything is fine. They seem to be pretty confident that when I'll be back it's not something that's going to reoccur at all."

 

How shocking is it to have a significant injury for the first time in his career?

"It's shocking because you expect, OK, my knee is going to go or my groin, my stomach -something that I use for a goalie. But I didn't think a bicep could be a big factor in an injury. I think it's such a freak accident. That's why I'm kind of shocked about the injury a little bit because it's not something that I would expect something to hurt."

 

On his mood:

"It’s just an unfortunate situation for me and my team, but it is what it is. I can’t do much about it. My spirits are pretty good. I might as well stay positive. There’s no reason for me to be negative. It’s not something that’s going to affect my career at all. My mobility, nothing is going to be a factor with that injury. It’s just a question of getting my biceps back into playing shape and whenever that happens, we’ll be back playing hockey.”

On Kevin Weekes taking over in his absence:

"I believe he'll be fine. Kevin has been such a great sport the last season and a half I've been playing with him as far as him not having action, but still being involved with the team with practicing and being an upbeat guy for the hockey club at all times. I think it's a great opportunity for him to go out and prove himself that he's able to be a top goalie. He's going to play in front of a great team like I did for a lot of years and, hopefully, he'll do well for us and he'll hold the fort until I'm able to come back."

Comments

[Jill]

Brodeur & the whole Devils fanbase are in shock.

[Kevin]

this is devastating news...but we must push forward.

weeksie is a very capable goalie and so long as the entire devils team steps up we will be alright.

all lou needs to do is get a defenseman and we will be a-ok until marty gets back

[Jeff in Hoboken]

The Devils should be fine this season as long as we can get some sort of consistent scoring.

You gotta feel bad for Marty--not just because of the injury, but because of how close he is to breaking those two records. We all know he'll eventually do it, we'll just have to wait a bit longer to see it happen now.

[JerseyLove]

I was certainly in shock. A Devils team without Marty is just too painful to imagine. I'm glad he's doing what's necessary to recover fully.

[JasonMacIsaac]

TG, Brodeur has been known to have told his players to let him see the shot, so a lot of point shots would get through. With Weekes in goal for a long period of time how likely is it that Sutter will play more aggressive in the defensive zone rather then a pssive zone coverage. Also will you see forward block a lot more shots?

[Devilswede]

Poor Marty. I really wanted to see him break those records soon. Hopefully he'll have a full recovery and hopefully he can lead us to the promised land when he returns.

[JoeDevil]

We're all in shock. What a weird season so far! I don't remember a season so filled with key player injuries like this one.
I can't remember a Devils team without Marty for a significant amount of time. This is going to be weird.

LET'S GO DEVILS!!!

[JJ]

I'm bummed but I can't say I'm shocked. We all knew a serious injury like this could happen one day. It's good that it happened when it did because there's still hope he'll be back by March for the stretch drive. I'm very interested to see how the team responds. Let's just hope that glove hand is back in form when he does return also because you know shooters will be testing it.

[V]

I always worried about this day. We have been lucky all these years with a healthy Marty. Lets Hope weeks and our O can keep us in the hunt until Marty comes back. Get well soon Marty! Does anyone else find it strange that the year that Marty changes his helmet and starts his own web site (a little bit of I over T-E-A-M kind of stuff) this happens? Not trying to start trouble but just a thought.

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

Weekes will be more than ok, the team just has to rally around him and play a more complete game than they did yesterday and they will be fine.

On a side note, Brookbank looked TERRIBLE last night, And Chicken Poison(Salmela, Salmonella whatever) did not look so steady either(but WHAT a shot from the point he has! he should have a license for that thing!). We need Martin back soon, and i dunno what were gonna do for another D man, i say we give Corrente another shot, and see what he can do...hell he can't be much worse than Brookbank was yesterday

[Falcone]

I still think we need to make a move for more fire power. With the best goalie of all time hurt, its makes us a little more vulnerable upfront. Before we could win and get away with a 2 goal preformance, because Marty was back there. And this isn't a knock on Weeks, but he isn't Marty...and our game will have to chance for the next few months. We need more scoring.

Trade for a gun if we can land him. I know many here will not agree with me, but move Langs, so what if he's the captain, its about winning and scoring goals. He's not the leader we need. Madden is our leader. Make him captain. Trade Langs, Gio and a minor leaguer for someone big. Maybe a few guys. I don't know who we can get, but we need to pick up someone big.

[JJ]

Salmela is still a step behind in his decision making but you are right RJ he's got a real nice shot. Unfortunately it's not an ideal situation for him at all because we don't have a veteran D partner for him to play with to smooth the transition and cover his mistakes.

[Jack]

Martin is a 1st class guy, so easy to root for.

[TG]

Yeah, Salmela has a decent shot when he's not pounding it directly into a defender's shin pads from two feet away. That happened more often last night than him actually getting the shot off. There was one instance where he faked a shot, moved a couple of feet and still blasted it right off a Sabres' player who was like three feet away.

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

Definitely JJ, he is also adjusting to the N.A. sized rink and the speed of the play. I would like to see Corrente get the next shot, because everybody from the fans down to the teams management thought he would be ready to take the next step this season. He had a bad camp, but lets give him a shot again, and let Chicken Poison get adjusted to the N.A. game in Lowell where his mistakes won't be magnified 100 fold.

This team will be ok, we just need to rally around Weekes. That injury to Greene looks alot worse now though, because he was playing so steady on the blueline, and to lose him could be devastating. I am not discounting Martins injury either we just don't know what it is or how long it will take. Greene gone for a couple months hurts real bad though.....

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

Salmela looked paniked last night, the shot is a HARD shot though TG, the kind of point shot that we need

[HoOn]

Definitely sad news for us Devils fans but we have to move on. I am happy that Weekes will get to play a lot more. He is one of my favorite Devils because of his attitude and he played great the last game despite the loss. We'll be in good hands with Weeksie! :) Go DEVILS!

[ron]

I am shocked, as all devil fans are, and I hope that Marty has a quick recovery. However in the long term this could benefit the team. Imagine a fresh broduer comes back in February and just ignites the team. A fresh and hungry Marty going into the playoffs will be a huge asset to the team.

[Pat]

What if you paired Salmella w/White and then Oduya w/Brookbank? Oduya has the wheels to cover for Brookbank if necessary.

I agree with the above statement, trade whoever you need to get better, even if that is Langs, although they will not disrupt the team at this point unless things spiral out of control and they want to make a statement, unlikely though.

I want to see Bergfors more. He has looked good but not had enough quality ice time. I'm nervous to rush Corrente up as he looked really bad in camp. If he makes awesome progress by Christmas, then let's consider it.

[John L. Maillard]

A glimpse into the future too soon...I am not ready to see what this team looks like without a Marty Brodeur in net on a regular basis. A tough holiday season for the Devils and the fans. Get well soon Marty. We need ya!

[joekoz]

Try to look on the bright side. Weekes should be able to hold the Devils in playoff contention until Marty is back. When Marty does get back, he should be well-rested and ready for the playoff run. I thought the last few years that he looked tired in the playoffs. That shouldn't be the case now.

[Brodie30]

I was so distraught today I wrote in for the BRODEUR/WEEKES ticket.

[Vishal]

TG, did Marty say he's returning to old glory when he comes back or will he continue with that monstrosity that his brother made for him. I hate his brother lol.

[Jeff]

The only problem I really see with Weekes is how little he has played last season. He did look good last night when the team fell apart around him. Last night really showed why our D was ranked 27th in the league. We really need to sure it up so our forwards can concentrate more on scoring.Here's some things to think about

1. When was the last clean pass you have seen up the wing out of Zone from the D?

2. How many point shots actually make it anywhere near the net?

3. When was the last time our D really laid our an opposing forward?

Last night exposed the Defense big time and any team can watch that tape and realize how vulnerable we are.

[TG]

There was no time to ask Marty about his mask.