playoffs???? PLAYOFFS!?!

He is, simply because he saw his idol, and went, "I know I can do something more." Roy's Butterfly style became the norm, and Marty went against it, and became a winner because of those around him. Broduer was built on teamwork. Hence why he is a great player.

In a debate of greatest ever, it is Gretzky. Hands down its him becuase not only did he demolish every record, he opened up the entire US south to hockey in places like Florida, Phoenix, Tampa, and Dallas.

My point was to players whose careers were spent playing in this area. Gretzky as a Ranger doesn't count simply because he only was here a short while and clearly way past his prime. For the guys who played their whole or at least the majority of their careers in this region, Brodeur has them all beat.

I am a Devils fan, so this pains me greatly to say, but Dennis Potvin, Brian Trottier and Rod Gilbert are all potential rivals to Brodeur.  It's hard to compare goalies and skaters, but those were three fairly impressive hall of famers.

Billy Smith > Martin Brodeur

Smith was a wall on 4 consecutive cups and due to him, the phrase,"Money Goaltender" was created.

The Vezina, Conn Smythe, William M. Jennings trophies, scoring goals and regular season standing aside, Smith never played on a team that played "the trap," designed to help defensive ability and smother the opponents rush.  He played on an explosive offense that has seldom been matched in the NHL. 

Despite how good he is, Brodeur will never win 19 consecutive playoff series.  Regular seasons do not matter.  Most wins or shut outs on a team that plays a boring suffocation style of defense first isnt a suprise, especially with a talent like Brodeur.

Brodeur is one of the greatest that ever played.  Just like Roy, Hasek, Fuhr, Parent, Dryden, Plante, Sawchuk, Broda, Cheevers, Esposito, Hall, etc.  As far as the best local players, As mentioned before by Noah and Terry, Bossy, Trots, Potvin, Messier and Gretzky are just a few that come to mind without any research. 

As far as Goalies, I dont think its close. 

Much as I hate to agree, Smith is a better long term goalie than any other.  Benny Parent had three years where he was absolutely unbelievable, but for the rest of his career he was "merely" first class.  I would not consider Gretsky local, any more than I would allow Chicago to claim Richie Ashburn as local.  Coming to a team in the twilight of a great career does not count.

So then using cup logic, Henri Richard must be the best ever?

Billy Smith was a great goalie for a while. And he had a team in front of him too.