No matter where Martin Brodeur chose to play the final games of his NHL career, the goaltender will always remain the face of the New Jersey Devils. It was in a Devils sweater that he won three Stanley Cups and rewrote the record book, passing names that seemed like fictional characters even to Brodeur himself.

Tackling a difficult, if not impossible task, here are Brodeur's Top 10 moments after playing his first game for the Devils back on March 26, 1992:

1. Career victory No. 552 on March 17, 2009

With a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks at the Prudential Center in Newark, Brodeur broke Patrick Roy's NHL record of 551 career wins. Brodeur, who made 30 saves in the game, was given a pair of scissors and got some help from backup Kevin Weekes in cutting the net off the goal frame to keep as a memento. He then met privately with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in a room near the Devils' dressing room. "With 10 minutes left, I thought, 'Alright, this is going to probably happen,' and I was looking at the clock," Brodeur said. "I was a little bit of a clock-watcher, but everything fell when they scored with two minutes left. It was, 'Alright, I've got two minutes to kill.' So it made the last two minutes it a little bit tough, but we got it done."

2. Olympic gold medal with Canada on February 24, 2002

Brodeur awarded gold in Salt Lake City 2002.

Brodeur was also on the 2010 Canadian team that won gold in Vancouver, but he was instrumental in capturing gold in Salt Lake City in 2002. By defeating Team USA, 5-2 in the championship game, Brodeur finished the tournament 4-0-1 with a 1.80 goals-against average. Brodeur wasn't Canada's No. 1 goaltender at the start of the Olympics, but stepped in when Curtis Joseph lost to Sweden. Brodeur went undefeated while stopping 31 of 33 shots. It was, he would say, special because thereafter he was cheered in NHL arenas across Canada - even as the visiting goalie for the Devils.

3. Career shutout No. 104 on December 21, 2009

Terry Sawchuk died two years before Brodeur was born, so the Devils goalie's knowledge of the Hall of Famer came mostly from his father, Denis. With a 4-0, 35-save win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Mellon Arena, Brodeur became the NHL's all-time shutouts leader. "This record was held for so long," he said after the game. "When you break records and you see how long they last, it's pretty cool."

4. Scoring a goal in the Stanley Cup playoffs on April 17, 1997

During Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarter-finals against the Montreal Canadiens at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, Brodeur gathered the puck behind his net and took a stride to the goal line at the side of his net. Snapping a shot, he scored into an empty net at the other end of the ice to become the second goalie in NHL history (Ron Hextall being the first in 1989) scored a goal in the playoffs. It came in a 5-2 Devils win.

5. Gold in the World Cup of Hockey on September 14, 2004

During a tournament in which he won all five games in which he played, Brodeur led Canada to the gold medal with a 3-2 victory over Finland at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

6. A third Stanley Cup on June 6, 2003

The Stanley Cup Final came down to a seventh game between the Devils and Ducks at the Meadowlands and Brodeur shut out Anaheim, 3-0, in what he called one of the two "toughest games" of his NHL career. The other was Game 7 of the 2001 Final, which he lost to Patrick Roy and the Colorado Avalanche. The shutout was Brodeur's third of the 2003 Final, though he did not win the Conn Smythe Trophy, which went to Jean-Sebastien Giguere of the Ducks.

7. Scoring his first regular season goal on February 15, 2000

Brodeur was renowned for his puck-handling ability.

Brodeur celebrated quite a few memorable moments in Philadelphia. He posted his 500th-career win there on November 17, 2000 and also completed a dramatic comeback from a 3-1 deficit in the 2000 Eastern Conference Final there on May 26, 2000. But on this date, he scored his second career goal and first in a regular season game. It was also the first game-winning goal in history by a goaltender.

8. Passed Patrick Roy for most games played by a goalie on Dec. 18, 2009

Brodeur's 1,029th-career NHL game (regular season) was a 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators at Prudential Center. That moved him past Roy on the all-time list for games played by a goalie. "I think it's something I'm really proud of throughout my career, to play a lot of games,'' Brodeur said. "I like to play a lot of games, so we're very happy it's done and we'll talk about it -- it's going to take a while before somebody gets to me on that one.''

9. A four-overtime playoff loss to Dominik Hasek on April 27, 1994

The 1994 Eastern Conference Final is widely considered one of the finest playoff series in recent memory.

At the end of Brodeur's Calder Trophy season, he was exceptional in the playoffs, but he also had some tough luck. He lost the classic Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final to the Rangers on Stephane Matteau's OT goal and exactly one month earlier, lost Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarter-finals to the Buffalo Sabres. Brodeur stopped 49 of 50 shots, but Dave Hannan scored at 5:43 of the fourth OT to end the game...in the days when players still ate pizza and junk food in the dressing room between periods.

10. A highlight-reel save against Marian Gaborik on May 16, 2012

In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final, Brodeur made his “Scorpion Save” on Marian Gaborik of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, kicking his leg into the air to make the stop. And that save is still a big hit on YouTube. The Devils likely would have lost the first two games of that series, but they went on to defeat the rival Rangers in six games to reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Rich Chere covers the New Jersey Devils for the Star-Ledger. You can read his coverage on NJ.com and follow him on Twitter at @ledger_njdevils.