New Jersey Devils’ top 5 rookie seasons of all-time
By Kyle McKenna
2. Martin Brodeur
Not only is Jersey’s fan base more than aware of the great Martin Brodeur’s goaltending records and trophy case, but so is the entire hockey community across the globe. However, one of his most overlooked awards is arguably when he won the 1993-94 Calder Trophy.
At 21-years-old, the former Devils’ first-round draft pick (20th overall) made his mark between the pipes in Jersey after recording a 27-11-8 record during the regular season, while posting a 2.40 goals against average and .915 save percentage. Brodeur wasted no time making his presence known, after No. 30 opened the campaign by winning his first three contests and earning one shutout.
The then rookie surprisingly started more games than veteran goaltender Chris Terreri, but quickly captured fan’s hearts with his unique and acrobatic style to perform highlight-reel saves.
“Marty” then led the Devils on a memorable Stanley Cup playoff run, which saw the Devils reach the Eastern Conference Final for the second time in team history. The run to the conference final also entailed Brodeur and the Devils defeating another Hall of Fame goaltender in the Buffalo Sabres’ Dominik Hasek.
Not bad for a rookie goaltender, right?
At the time, Brodeur became just the 12th goaltender to take home the Calder trophy (15 winners to date) in NHL history.
While goaltender Sean Burke’s 1987-88 rookie campaign was close to making this list, Brodeur is the only Devils rookie masked man to make the cut. Still, while Brodeur arguably goes down as the greatest Devils player off all-time, his rookie season doesn’t go down as No. 1 for this respective list.