Brodeur is still chasing Roy+_

Mar 18, 2009 - 2:52 PM By Chuck LaRose SportsTicker Staff Writer

New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur broke the all-time career wins record on Tuesday, or did he?

By my estimates, the future Hall-of-Famer still has some work to do before we can truly call him the winningest goaltender in NHL history.

Technically, Brodeur's 552 wins are the most ever, but let's keep in mind the four-time Vezina Trophy winner had one advantage over previous record holder Patrick Roy - shootout wins.

Roy had been retired two years when the NHL decided in 2005 that regular season games would be decided by a shootout if there was no winner in the five-minute overtime session.

So during the last four seasons Brodeur has picked up some shootout wins that would have resulted in ties had he played under the same set of rules Roy did.

In fact, as best I can tell, 28 of Brodeur's 552 career victories have come via the shootout.

So Tuesday night's pageantry at the Prudential Center was perhaps the greatest celebration ever for a goaltender getting career win No. 524.

Don't get me wrong Devil fans, there's no doubt that Brodeur will eventually pass Roy in this parallel universe I've created and will go down as the greatest goaltender of all-time.

The 36-year-old still has three years left on his current contract and by the time he calls it a career it will be easier to name the goaltending records he doesn't own.

And I'm not even one those people who knocks Brodeur for playing in New Jersey's ubiquitous defense-first system all these years. Winning is winning no matter how you do it.

This matter of true victories is a mere technicality in a fabulous 16-year career.

The good news for New Jersey fans - they get to celebrate again when he actually breaks the record.