I've heard a lot of comments over the years along the lines of "Brodeur would have a </whatever> in his honor if he played in Manhattan", but I always found that an odd thing to say, considering that New York barely gives a crap about the Rangers.
Maybe it's just because they've mostly been mediocre as a franchise (having Marty since the early 90's would certainly have made them better), but the Rangers are usually a non-story on the NYC sports scene, a throw-in by hockey-ignorant writers who figure they have to throw the sport a bone and only know a couple things about the one team at MSG.
That said, the overall point Brooks is making is true: the NHL should be gearing up for a farewell tour that'd put Mo Rivera's to shame, because this is arguably the greatest goalie of all time preparing to hang up his pads, be it this year or after one more short extension. Instead, the league and much of it's reporting media has spent years pooh-poohing his skills ("he wouldn't be so great if he didn't have T3H TRAP!@$! in front of him!"), minimizing his exposure, even making incredibly stupid new rules in an attempt to limit his all-time great abilities.
You will never, ever see another major pro sports league treat one of it's all time great superstars like that.
And if he had come up playing in Manhattan, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, etc., you can bet they never would've treated Marty that way.
