- Martin Brodeur reached out through Alexander Smolin’s agent about a move to New Jersey this summer
- The 22-year-old Metallurg goalie told the Devils he wants to keep his career in the KHL
- Read below for Smolin’s full comments and video of the save that got him noticed
Martin Brodeur went shopping for a goaltender in Russia this summer and came back with nothing.
Alexander Smolin, the 22-year-old who shared Metallurg Magnitogorsk’s crease last season, confirmed New Jersey came after him in an interview with Mikhail Skryl of Sport-Express. Skryl asked him straight out whether he had been in contact with Brodeur, the Hall of Fame goalie who now runs hockey operations for the Devils. His answers are translated from Russian.
“That’s right, there was communication,” Smolin said. “We just talked through my agent. They asked about my future, what I want, they got to know me, and that was it. A normal conversation. He never called me personally. Only through the agent.”
Then came the part New Jersey did not want to hear. Skryl asked how the conversation ended.
“I just told them I want to continue my career in the KHL,” Smolin said.
Readiness was the sticking point. “I understood that I’m not ready yet and there’s no point going now,” he said. “You have to go off your own feelings, whether you’re ready for the NHL or not. Heading over there without your head on straight is pointless.”
He also knew what the offer would have looked like. Asked what the Devils were actually proposing, Smolin pointed to the minors.
“Most likely it would have been the AHL. Goalies almost never step straight into the NHL. Sorokin is the exception, I think. Either way I would have had to prove myself through the AHL. They definitely did not see me in the NHL right away.”
Brodeur had good reason to make the call. Check out the video of the stop that had the KHL’s own account calling it a save-of-the-year candidate:
Last season Smolin posted a .915 save percentage and a 2.33 goals-against average across 35 games, then went .933 and 1.67 in 10 playoff starts. He re-signed with Metallurg in June on what he called the most expensive contract of his life. His crease partner Ilya Nabokov took the other road.
New Jersey was not the only NHL club sniffing around. Smolin flew to New York in late June for the Rangers’ development camp, one of three goalies on the roster alongside Danai Shaiikov and Callum Tung.
Smolin described the week as a get-to-know-you exercise rather than a tryout. “They just invited me to get to know the organization, to get to know me better,” Smolin said. “It turned out to be a good familiarization trip.” Rangers staff have kept writing to him since, he added, telling him to stay in touch.
Goalie coach Jeff Malcolm ran the sessions, Shaiikov handled the translating, and Smolin watched Matt Rempe and Adam Fox skate on the same sheet.
None of it moved him. “Of course, first I have to prove in the KHL that I’m a good, stable goaltender,” Smolin said. “Then I take the next step. I want to keep developing. If you stand still, you die as an athlete.”
