Brodeur: Beyond the Crease - Hardcover

Perhaps more than any other NHL player, Martin Brodeur takes cares of business - his own. The Devils' three-time Stanley Cup champion goaltender severed ties with his agent, Gilles Lupien, in 1998 and has since negotiated his own deals, presumably including the one for his book: "Brodeur: Beyond the Crease." Sprinkled throughout the 278 pages are details about salaries, contracts, the marketing of the league, his relationship with Devils front-office guru Lou Lamoriello and even his assessment of the Devils' new arena in Newark, due to open next season. Brodeur writes that the new facility will have "two rinks, a gym, pool, luxury suites, basically everything we don't have now. You buy a ticket for $95 and still have to walk up 40 steps to get a drink." Surely the Meadowlands execs will love to read that. But Brodeur, never shy on opinions, offers plenty of others. Among them: In the 1990 entry draft, Owen Nolan was selected first, then Petr Nedved, Keith Primeau, Mike Ricci and "some guy named Jagr. If the teams could do that draft all over, Jagr would have undoubtedly been the first pick and I'd like to think I would have gone a little higher [than 20th]." On former Islander Ziggy Palffy: "Seems he had more breakaways against me than any other player. He often beat me with a low shot to the blocker. Once on a breakaway, I guessed right and stopped that shot. Then he put in the rebound." On his technological savvy: During the lockout, he was contacted by the Russian teams Omsk and Ak Bars Kazan. So he checked out the cities on a Web site's live camera. His assessment: "They looked miserable." (Newsday, October 29, 2006)

Martin Brodeur is a giant in the world of hockey. He is the number-one goalie in the game today, and one of the greatest goaltenders of the modern age. He has been netminder for the New Jersey Devils for 13 years, leading them to three Stanley Cup victories and winning numerous individual awards in the process, including two Vezina trophies. A three-time Olympian for Canada, Brodeur was part of the gold-medal winning team at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He was in goal when Team Canada captured the 2004 World Cup and has been a part of every major Canadian team since he broke into the NHL in 1992. He is rated as the fourth most popular and recognizable hockey player of all time (after Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, and Mario Lemieux). In Brodeur: Beyond the Crease, the game's best netminder takes a candid, personal look at his career, his sport, the business of hockey, the evolution of the sport, and his journey to the apex of the modern game. It is one man's detailed, unique view of the kaleidoscope of intrigue and competitive chaos that defines today's NHL, a rare opportunity to understand the sport through the eyes of one of the game's most insightful athletes at the height of his abilities. Brodeur: Beyond the Crease traces Brodeur's career, revealing how he became the best, from minor hockey through junior to the NHL and Team Canada. It examines his rich national and personal hockey heritage, and the pivotal role his father and others played in his career, as well as his thoughts and insights on: being part of the effort that turned the New Jersey Devils around from being what Wayne Gretzky called "a Mickey Mouse organization" into one of the game's most powerful and successful franchises; being in the crease in 2002 when Canada ended a 50-year gold medal drought at the Olympics; being a Canadian and a Quebecer playing and living in the US; life as a husband and father of four, his love of motorcycles, and the lifestyle of the modern athlete; pursuing greatness and sporting records; the best goalies he's ever seen and the best NHL shooters; how he prepares for game day; what it's like to be the wealthiest man ever to play his position, and what it was like to watch $8 million in salary fly out the window during the NHL lockout of 2004-2005. In association with award-winning sports journalist Damien Cox, the top goalie in the game takes us inside the game and beyond, to reveal the man behind the mask.