Brodeur: Beyond the Crease
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)