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The Icy Farmer: Minor and SemiPro Hockey Blog: After Brodeur: Who Should Start in Net After the Goalie "Great One" Retires?
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8/12/12 1:47 PM
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The Icy Farmer: Minor and SemiPro Hockey
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This is the new look for the original domain SemiProHockey.Blogspot.com. I had issues accessing it and decided to create a new blog. Follow me
on twitter @Marley_Dan This blog is for the AHL, ECHL, CHL, OHL, FHL, QMJHL, and WHL fan. I discuss how the players and teams are doing
and discuss issues in the National Hockey League that coincide with minor league hockey and junior hockey. These are where the stars of today
come from.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
After Brodeur: Who Should Start in Net After the Goalie
"Great One" Retires?
Blog Archive
Blog Archive
By Dan Marley
There is a good chance that after this season, New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin
Brodeur will be calling it a career.
If it wasn’t for Brodeur, the Devils organization would have not enjoyed any of their
successes in the Garden State, winning three Stanley Cup Championships, four Prince of Whales
Trophies (Eastern Conference Champions), and multiple Atlantic Division titles. They would have
instead been struggling to make ends meet in Nashville, Tennessee (see footnote).
Kitchener Rangers- OHL
Oshawa
Generals- OHL
When Brodeur retires, the concern lies on whom will be the new starting goaltender at The
Rock. Many Devils fans want to see the Devils make a move for an elite goaltender, with the
future status of captain Zach Praise still questionable.
As easy as it may be to trade expendable prospects for a goaltender or to sign one over
the summer, the Devils do not stand for signing mercenaries. What separates them from many
other teams in the National Hockey League is that they grow their own talent. Brodeur, Patrick
Elias, Parise, Ken Daneyko, John MacLean, Brendan Shanahan, Scott Niedermayer, Sergei Brylin,
and others were brought up in the Devils farm system and other team development functions.
They should continue to do what has made them successful for many years.
Picking which goaltending prospect to have the distinct honor and privilege of starting in
net for the organization may be a challenge, since they had one perfect candidate that they had
treated poorly and another who they have kept forever in the farm system that by now will never
make his NHL debut. I am talking about Scott Clemmensen and Jeff Frazee.
From 2005-2009, Clemmensen was the only goaltender on the Devils in the EA Sports
NHL Series to not be named “Backup #35.” Clemmensen did not see much playtime until the
2008/09 season, when Brodeur was sidelined for 16 weeks due to a torn distal biceps tendon in his
arm.
With a team plagued with injuries, Clemmensen stepped up and kept the Devils on top of
the Atlantic Division. He and his goalie pads that were thinner than he posted a 25-13-1 record
with a 2.39 goals against average and a 91.7 save percentage with two shutouts. He played more
http://icyfarmerhockey.blogspot.com/2012/01/after-brodeur-who-should-start-in-net_04.html
Halifax
MooseheadsQMJHL
Houston
Aeros- AHL
Tri City
AmericansWHL
Toronto
Marlies- AHL
Milwaukee
Admirals- AHL
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The Icy Farmer: Minor and SemiPro Hockey Blog: After Brodeur: Who Should Start in Net After the Goalie "Great One" Retires?
successfully against his Atlantic Division rivals, registering an 8-3-0 record against them, including
a 3-0-0 record with one shutout against the New York Rangers.
When Brodeur returned from injury and led the Devils at home to a shutout victory over the
Colorado Avalanche back on February 26, 2009, Clemmensen was sent back down to the minors
instead of their "other" backup in Kevin Weeks. This right here was a major sign of disrespect for a
player that kept the Devils reigning supreme that year.
In the end, Clemmensen got the last laugh, as the Devils blew a one-goal lead with 80
seconds left in game seven of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against Eric Staal and the
Carolina Hurricanes.
Frazee was the coveted prospect who was originally going to take over the position. For a
while, Frazee was the only goaltending prospect in the Devils farm system.
Red Deer
Rebels- WHL
Vancouver
Giants- WHL
Connecticut
Whale- AHL
After his tenure at the University of Minnesota, where he posted a 26-13-3 record, the
Devils kept him locked up in the farm system. For five seasons, he was stuck in the minors,
playing in Albany and Lowell of the American Hockey League and the Trenton Devils of the ECHL.
In the beginning, he had a lot of promise. Today, he can now label himself as a “Crash Davis.”
His talent is being wasted away in the AHL, as his game is now becoming less consistent
and losing important attributes daily. The only goaltending quality that he truly has left is his
flexibility; yet, it is not helping out his cause.
Luckily, the Devils have three other goaltending prospects that show high promise. Their
names are Keith Kinkaid, Scott Wedgewood, and Maxime Clermont.
Kinkaid made his first appearance with the Devils this past preseason in a special contest
up in Albany, New York back on September 21, 2011. He made ten saves and allowed zero goals
in 31 minutes and 13 seconds of play in a Devils 2-1 win over the Rangers. From that day on, the
former player from Union College was on everyone’s radar.
Trenton
Titans- ECHL
Windsor
Spitfires- OHL
Rochester
AmericansAHL
Kinkaid has good size for a net minder and unlike Frazee is more consistent in net. He
cuts down the angles well, has good reflexes, and controls his rebounds. Currently, Kinkaid is 810-0 with two shutouts, and allowed 56 goals on 471 shots faced down in Albany, which is pretty
good for an undrafted goalie playing professionally on a team that has been slumping all year. He
and Frazee are currently splitting time to determine who will be the primary starter for the second
http://icyfarmerhockey.blogspot.com/2012/01/after-brodeur-who-should-start-in-net_04.html
Idaho
SteelheadsECHL
8/12/12 1:47 PM
Plymouth
Whalers- OHL
Victoria
Royals- WHL
Calgary
Hitmen- WHL
San Antonio
RampageAHL
Edmonton Oil
Kings- WHL
Seattle
ThunderbirdsWHL
St. John's Ice
Caps- AHL
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The Icy Farmer: Minor and SemiPro Hockey Blog: After Brodeur: Who Should Start in Net After the Goalie "Great One" Retires?
8/12/12 1:47 PM
and Frazee are currently splitting time to determine who will be the primary starter for the second
half of the year.
Wedgewood, the 84 th overall pick by the Devils in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, is playing
good goaltending in the Ontario Hockey League with the Plymouth Whalers.
What differentiates him from the other goaltenders in the Devils organization is his ability to
handle pressure during every second of the game, a Brodeur-like quality which foreshadows the
good future that he will have in this organization. In net, Wedgewood plays the body and protects
the crease well.
Omaha
LancersUSHL
Quebec
RempartsQMJHL
As of January 4, Wedgewood is 13-5-3 and has allowed 63 goals on 1,227 shots.
Because of age restrictions in the Canadian Hockey League, Wedgewood will not return to the
OHL, and instead, be competing with the others for that coveted roster spot.
Clermont, the other goaltender selected by the Devils in the 2010 Draft, is currently in the
ECHL playing for the Kalamazoo Wings. What attracted scouts to this prospect is his commitment
to challenging shooters on the breakaway, aggressiveness in net, good use of the glove, and
rebound control.
During his tenure with the Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey
League, Clermont helped lead his club to two President’s Cups in 2008 and 2011, winning in 2008
against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, a fourth-place finish in the 2008 CHL Memorial Cup, and a
Western Division Title in 2009. The Devils have recognized his importance and impending future
with the organization and want to be extra cautious with his development.
So far in his first season at the professional level, Clermont is 4-4-0 with a 3.89 goals
against average and 87.8 save percentage.
The race for the starting goalie role in New Jersey will be one of great interest for the NHL
community. Frazee, Kinkaid, Wedgewood, and Clermont are making very interesting cases to be
the next starter for the Devils. As the 2011/12 season begins to come to an end, only time will tell
who will be the next “Marty.”
http://icyfarmerhockey.blogspot.com/2012/01/after-brodeur-who-should-start-in-net_04.html
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The Icy Farmer: Minor and SemiPro Hockey Blog: After Brodeur: Who Should Start in Net After the Goalie "Great One" Retires?
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*The reason why the 1995 Stanley Cup was so special to the Devils was because it kept the team
in New Jersey. If they had not won, the NHL had plans to move the club to Nashville. Eventually,
in 1998, Nashville was awarded an NHL franchise as part of the NHL’s expansion to 30 teams.
Posted by Hockey Blog Central at 4:53 PM
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Labels: Brodeur, Clermont, Devils, Frazee, Kinkaid, NHL, Wedgewood
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