The trade that sent Marc-André Fleury from the Golden Knights to the Blackhawks stunned the hockey world — including Fleury himself.
The beloved face of the Vegas franchise didn’t even get a heads-up from the Knights, instead finding out about the trade Tuesday via Twitter.
A source close to Fleury described him as “totally shocked.” Another source said Fleury “doesn’t want to play there,” though stressing that the sentiment had nothing to do with the Blackhawks organization but rather Fleury not wanting to uproot his family for an unfamiliar locale.
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The source added that though Fleury has long suspected Vegas upper management — and especially coach Peter DeBoer — did not view him as “their guy,” Fleury was confident he would at least finish out his current contract with the Golden Knights.
One reason for Fleury’s confidence, the first source said, was that he won the Vezina Trophy this past season.
Another, both sources said, stemmed from a conversation Fleury had with Vegas owner Bill Foley. That conversation occurred after Foley blocked a proposed trade between the Golden Knights and Penguins that would have reunited Fleury with his original franchise.
Those closest to Fleury have said he and his wife hoped Fleury would finish his career with the Golden Knights. The Fleury family has taken to life in suburban Vegas and did not want to uproot their three children.
However, if an endgame with Vegas was not in the cards, Fleury has long eyed a return to Pittsburgh, where his legend has only seemed to grow since the Penguins allowed him to depart after their 2017 Stanley Cup victory.
“Pitt’s home to him,” a source said of Fleury. “He and (his wife) Veronique grew up there, you know?”
Fleury was open to joining the Penguins last summer. Former Penguins GM Jim Rutherford explored trading for Fleury before and after signing Tristan Jarry to a three-year contract. Rutherford felt Fleury could be an ideal mentor for Jarry but also envisioned Fleury being the Penguins’ No. 1 goalie, though working a lighter regular-season load to stay fresh for the postseason.
Fleury has famously made friends with any goaltender that’s been a teammate on either the Penguins or Golden Knights. That includes former Penguins goalie Matt Murray and current Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner. Murray described Fleury as “unbelievable” during the 2016 postseason and the entirety of the following season when Murray ascended to the No. 1 role in Pittsburgh.
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Penguins coach Mike Sullivan favored Murray in those seasons, leading to speculation that Sullivan and Fleury might not be able to co-exist if Fleury were to again play for the Penguins. However, one of the sources close to Fleury said Fleury holds Sullivan in high regard.
“Sully never made it personal, and Flower respected that he knew where he stood with Sully,” the source said. “I think there may have been less trust with the GM, but he’s not there anymore.”
Rutherford resigned from the Penguins early this past season. He was replaced as GM by Ron Hextall, who was hired along with hockey operations president Brian Burke. During the GM search, Penguins majority co-owner Mario Lemieux considered having interim GM Patrik Allvin inquire about Fleury’s availability, a team source said. Lemieux felt Jarry, who struggled at the start of the regular season, “would be fine” and also “didn’t want to add more” to his plate; Lemieux essentially ran the search that led to Hextall and Burke joining the Penguins.
Hextall has not publicly committed to actively seeking a goalie to either share duties with and/or replace Jarry, who had a miserable first postseason series in the Penguins’ opening-round loss to the Islanders.
However, multiple sources said Hextall has identified upgrading in goal as a top priority, though Hextall was thought to prefer acquiring a goalie in a trade as opposed to singing one in free agency.
Penguins brass is said to have been surprised by Vegas trading Fleury to Chicago, a team source said. That source also said Fleury potentially being available “changes things,” adding high-ranking officials on the business side would “love it” if Hextall could bring Fleury back.
“His jersey would be our No. 1 seller, even with Sid and Geno,” the source said, referring to Penguins superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
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“Bringing back Flower would be huge. Every team in the league is trying to sell tickets. We’re the same. Our fans love Fleury. He’s more popular now than when he played for us.”
For what it’s worth, adding Fleury would be endorsed by Crosby, who remains very close with Fleury, sources said.
From a hockey perspective, the Penguins would struggle to fit Fleury’s $7 million annual average value (AAV) under their salary cap. However, with Malkin expected to at least begin next season on long-term injured reserve, the Penguins could find some temporary cap flexibility to bring on Fleury at his current salary. The Blackhawks could also retain some salary in exchange for picks, prospects or players if they flipped him to Pittsburgh.
Hextall and Burke are thought to be in favor of adding Fleury, but “not at the number he’s at right now,” a source said.
If Fleury eventually decides he does want to play for the Blackhawks, the trade certainly makes a lot of sense for them. The Blackhawks have a lot of confidence in Kevin Lankinen, who stepped up to be their No. 1 goalie last season, but they’re less sure about what they have behind him. With this season expanding back to 82 games, the Blackhawks would love to add a veteran like Fleury to the mix.
Until Lankinen proves otherwise, the Blackhawks still see him as more of a 1B than a true No. 1. It’s similar to two summers ago, when the Blackhawks unexpectedly signed Robin Lehner to a one-year, $5 million deal. He teamed up with Corey Crawford to form a dynamite duo in net, and when the Blackhawks fell out of the playoff picture, they flipped Lehner to Vegas for picks.
The Blackhawks had been hoping to add a veteran goalie this summer, and there are plenty to choose from as the annual goalie carousel goes for another spin. But Fleury was the only significant upgrade out there. No offense to the likes of Braden Holtby, Frederik Andersen, Linus Ullmark, Brian Elliott, Antti Raanta and company, but .905 goalies pretty much do grow on trees in the NHL. Cup-winning, reigning-Vezina goalies coming off .928 seasons very much do not.
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Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews each have two years remaining on their current contracts. If you’re going to change course dramatically in the middle of a rebuild and try to make one last run at a deep playoff push, adding Seth Jones to the blue line and Fleury to the crease is one way to do it. Stan Bowman said he wasn’t going to do anything “irresponsible” just to speed up the process, and we can debate all day how responsible it was to give up so much for Jones (in terms of both the trade and then the contract), but Bowman certainly is trying to skip a couple of steps here.
As one team source succinctly put it in a text: “Worth a try, I guess.”
Fleury also is a universally beloved figure, a terrific teammate who could serve a mentor role not only for Lankinen but for players throughout the Blackhawks locker room. Once a hotbed of grizzled veterans and unofficial alternate captains, the Blackhawks are down to Toews and Kane from the Cup years, with kids at every turn. Fleury can help fill some of the leadership void left by Duncan Keith (traded to Edmonton) and Brent Seabrook (retired).
That’s all assuming Fleury decides to play in Chicago, of course. If he does retire today or tomorrow, the Blackhawks don’t stand to lose much. They traded one of their low-end prospects in the deal. One league source did wonder if the Golden Knights and Blackhawks talked about the possibility of Fleury retiring, and the Blackhawks could get something more if that happens. That’s unclear yet. Regardless if that’s not in place, all the Blackhawks did was assist Vegas in shedding cap space.
But if Fleury needs time to decide on his future, which is fair considering he just learned of the trade and this is his career we’re talking about, the Blackhawks could be in a tight spot when free agency opens on Wednesday. That’s $7 million in cap space in limbo. It’s not as if it does them much good if that $7 million opens up long after Wednesday.
The Blackhawks could buy out Fleury’s contract if desperate, but that would still cost them $3 million in cap space for the 2021-22 season and an additional $2 million for the 2022-23 season. The Blackhawks have some cap flexibility because Andrew Shaw and Brent Seabrook are on long-term injured reserve, but unless the Golden Knights are giving them something additional, that wouldn’t make much sense.
Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman sounded from the news release as if he fully expected Fleury to be playing for his team this season.
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“The opportunity to acquire a Vezina-winning goaltender is rare and one you cannot pass up,” Bowman said in the release. “Marc-André improves our goaltending, strengthens our team defense and will have a huge impact on the overall development of the Blackhawks. Having a goaltender like this on our team will put the talent we currently have on our roster in a better position to achieve sustained success. The entire organization is thrilled to have this future Hall of Famer on our team and his reputation of being an excellent teammate on and off the ice precedes him.”
The Blackhawks did announce the trade, but they didn’t expect to hold a media availability with Fleury on Tuesday. Until Fleury makes a decision about his future, everything — from the front office to the PR office — is in limbo.
Of less importance right now, Fleury becomes the fifth goaltender under NHL contract for the Blackhawks this season. In addition to Fleury and Lankinen, Collin Delia and Malcolm Subban are under contract for another year, and the Blackhawks added Arvid Söderblom, a promising 21-year-old goalie from Sweden, in the offseason. Söderblom was previously expected to be the No. 1 with the Rockford IceHogs this upcoming season. The IceHogs also re-signed goalie Cale Morris. Subban and Delia do require waivers, but it’d become a crowded — and possibly unhappy — goalie pool in Rockford if both ended up with the IceHogs instead of being traded or claimed on waivers.
(Photo: David Kirouac / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)