What is the Martin Brodeur rule?

Martin Brodeur born May 6, 1972, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is a Canadian ice hockey player who is the all-time winningest goaltender in the National Hockey League (NHL) with 691 career victories.

Brodeur grew up close to the game of ice hockey. His father, Denis Brodeur, was a member of Canada’s 1956 bronze medal-winning Olympic team and a longtime photographer for the Montreal Canadiens.

What is the Martin Brodeur rule?

After the 2004–05 lockout and before the start of the 2005–06 season, the league instituted a new rule preventing goaltenders from playing the puck behind the goal line, except within a trapezoid-shaped zone located behind the net.

Brodeur’s prowess at puck handling was so well known that it led in part to the NHL changing its rules regarding where goalies were allowed to handle the puck outside of the goal crease, adding what is known as “The Brodeur Rule”.

The restricted area limits the ability of a skilled goaltender to clear the puck out of his end. Before the introduction of this rule, a goalie with solid stick-handling skills could skate into the corners to pass the puck to his teammates or clear it out of his end.