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With his 552nd career win, Martin Brodeur inches closer to becoming, unquestionably, the greatest goaltender in the history of the 92 year-old National Hockey League.

There are others who can be argued as Best - certainly one can suggest names such as Terry Sawchuk, Grant Fuhr, Patrick Roy, but allow me to make a quick case for Marty Brodeur as Best Goalie Ever. Think about these facts: Most Shutouts (Combined), Most 40-Win Seasons, Most Single Season Wins, Most Minutes Played, and 30 Franchise Records.

Can any other goalie match Mr. Brodeur with regard to what is important, nay, essential to supporting an NHL team? Do we not see the NJ Devils as a dominant force in hockey because, in no small part, of Brodeur's skills?

And let's not forget that Martin Brodeur has at least five more seasons ahead of him, easy. So we'll probably see, upon Brodeur's eventual retirement, some impossible-to-beat numbers.

This isn't just about 552 wins. My feeling is that Brodeur is unassuming and polite and flies under the radar of a lot of sportswriters - he's no Wayne Gretzky, and if you're not Wayne Gretzky, most sportswriters don't really care, 'cause, y'know, it's just hockey. Hockey doesn't draw the Americans the way football and baseball and basketball do. But that doesn't make hockey any less of a game, it doesn't make it an easier game. It's relatively easy to argue that it's harder to stop a goal on major league ice than it is to score a basket in NBA basketball. No knock on basketball, but it's a slower game, easier to follow, and playable by more kids and adults. So it gets the better press. And even if the audience sizes were the same for both, hockey is just too fast for most Americans. We like slower games, with a slower object to follow. The basketball moves slower, the football moves slower, and other than the pitch, the baseball moves slower than an average hockey puck.

So this is about we hockey fans, doing our best to wake up the sports fans who don't really watch hockey. This is our chance to raise the flag of the NHL and say "Hey, we're just as great as the rest of you."