Source: Martin Brodeur retires

— -- The NHL's all-time winningest netminder, Martin Brodeur, has decided to retire and will join the St. Louis Blues' front office, a source confirmed to ESPN.com on Tuesday.

Brodeur played for the Blues this season after an injury to Brian Elliott spurred the Blues to sign the veteran goalie, who was an unrestricted free agent after sitting out the first few months of the season.

Once Elliott returned earlier this month, however, it dropped Brodeur to a No. 3 role. He left the club two weeks ago to think about his future.

The 42-year-old Brodeur, a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, played the previous 21 seasons with the New Jersey Devils, with whom he won 688 of his 691 career victories and won the Stanley Cup on three occasions in 1995, 2000 and 2003.

He won 113 career playoff games with New Jersey, second only to Patrick Roy (151).

Brodeur appeared in seven games for the Blues, going 3-3-0 with a 2.87 goals against average and .899 save percentage. He also had one shutout to increase his all-time NHL record to 125.

And he never once worried about how others would view his legacy by continuing to play this season.

"I don't really care," Brodeur said before his first game with the Blues. "It's all about me. ... People will judge me for whatever they want to judge me on, if it's me coming back and trying something here in St. Louis and trying to have fun and have a chance to win the Stanley Cup or [thinking he] should have retired five years ago.

"A lot of people thought I wasn't going to make the NHL, so I'm living this dream, and when you are living this dream ... you really enjoy what you do. It's hard to let it go sometimes."

The 10-time All-Star finishes with 140 wins more than Roy, who is No. 2 all-time. Brodeur also captured the Vezina Trophy -- given to the league's top goaltender -- four times.

Brodeur has played 1,266 career games -- also first all-time among goaltenders -- and finishes with a .912 save percentage and a 2.24 goals against average.

Katie Strang of ESPN.com contributed to this report.