PHOENIX -- Martin Brodeur shook his head and broke into a smile telling a story about a night on the road last month when he tried to get Jaromir Jagr to have some fun with him.

"It's funny," the Devils goalie said. "We were in Pittsburgh. My buddy picked me up. We were going to go for a beer. I turned around and sees Jags jogging outside the hotel."

Brodeur started laughing at this point.

"I said, 'Come with us,'" Brodeur continued. "We took him. When we got there, we dropped him off and he ran back to the hotel."

Jagr never drank when he was younger and still doesn't.

"Not at all," Brodeur said. "Jags kind of is a little different off the ice. He works out too much for me! He takes it too serious."

The next night, following their game in Pittsburgh, Brodeur and Jagr did spend some time together, just the two of them deep in hockey-talk conversation.

Their time is on the team bus, always in the back row, always

Brodeur to the right, Jagr to the left.

This is where Brodeur, the winningest goaltender ever, and Jagr, seventh all-time in goals and points, are building a relationship beyond one that for years was mutual respect. This season it's turned into something more now that they're first-time teammates during the twilight of their legendary careers.

"It's really easy to become friends with Marty," Jagr said. "He's easygoing. He's played the game for so many years, so there's always something to talk about."

The back of the bus is where Jagr and Brodeur, both among the oldest players in the game at 41, swap stories. They talk about great players they've played with and against. They talk about what they'll do after they're done playing hockey. They talk about how the NHL has changed since they were drafted 15 picks apart in 1990, Jagr fifth overall by Pittsburgh and Brodeur 20th overall by the Devils. They talk about their younger days when they were the best in the sport at their positions, when they were winning Stanley Cups -- Brodeur three of them, Jagr two in his first two NHL seasons.

"I don't sit back there with them, but I can hear them," rookie defenseman Jon Merrill said. "There are times where you take a look and you hear them joking with each other, and you say, 'Wow.'"

"The bus is a funny thing," veteran left wing Ryan Carter said. "You kind of have assigned seats without having assigned seats. You know which seat is yours. I do look back there and it is pretty incredible. A lot of games, a lot of accomplishments, a lot of records. Both great guys, both great players."

The Devils' two hockey legends come from different parts of the world, Jagr from the Czech Republic and Brodeur from a French-speaking family in Montreal. Their personalities are dissimilar, too, as Jagr is an outgoing and comical presence always having fun while Marty is quiet and more laid-back. Even their family life is very different, as well, as Marty is in his second marriage and has five children between the ages of 4 and 18, while Jagr forever has been single with no kids.

Despite all that, their past greatness, their love for the game, their hockey IQ and their ability to remain major contributors in their 40s are common bonds that not many others ever could understand or appreciate.

"I sit right next to Jags on the bus and we have a lot of good conversation," Brodeur said. "When you speak to a guy that has a similar kind of career, as far as when we broke in the league, when we got drafted. It's all similar. He has championships that he won, the championship that I won on my side. Questions are asked about our experiences.

"It's good conversation. It's kind of fun because you kind of relate. We've played against players that none of these others here played against, some pretty amazing players."

Thus far, this chit-chat is the extent of their friendship. They don't dine together, don't go to the movies, don't hang out on off days. Other than their time on the bus, as well as a little conversation here and there in the dressing room and on the ice, they go their separate ways.

"I've got kids," Brodeur said. "Maybe other years would be different. But this year, man, we've been playing so much, traveling so much, that whenever we have time home, my wife wants to see me and the kids want to see me."

And Jagr wants to hang out with two teammates who are from his country, Patrik Elias and Marek Zidlicky.

"Most of the time I'm going out with the Czechs when I'm eating dinner," Jagr said. "I can speak the Czech language. I'm living a different life than Marty lives. He's got a family. I don't bother anybody."

When around each other and not talking, Jagr and Brodeur notice what the other is doing or saying on the ice and in the dressing room, which is filled with many teammates young enough to be their children.

Brodeur is greatly impressed by how hard Jagr works on his game, how he keeps himself in such great shape. Jagr admires Brodeur's work habits, the respect he commands, his ability to remain a top goalie for so long.

"It's pretty cool to see the way Jags gets himself ready, how professional he is," Brodeur said. "One of the things that I really like about him, and I told my GM about it, is how good it is for the other kids just to see him, see how confident he is, what he says, the way he prepares himself.

"He wants to be the guy at all times at 41. He's not a passenger at all, and it's something that's going to rub off."

Jagr feels the same about Brodeur, his new good buddy. Oh, and before the season ends, Brodeur plans on breaking their bus-only bonding trend and spending an off night with Jagr.

"We've got time," he said. "I'm sure we'll get together."