Fleury back to the Penguins?

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman with an interesting proposition.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Fleury back to the Penguins?
Zuma Press

The offseason has barely begun for the Vegas Golden Knights and already there are rumours flying out of Sin City that big changes are coming.

GM Kelly McCrimmon has his work cut out for him and the biggest issue he’ll need to address is what’s happening in goal for the Golden Knights. Flower or Panda? That is, Marc Andre Fleury or Robin Lehner? Who is this team’s starting goaltender moving forward.

In that past week it’s been reported that Lehner has a “handshake agreement” with the Golden Knights on a new five year agreement that would essentially push Fleury to the curb. The only problem is… what do you do with Fleury and the two years remaining at $7 million per on his contract?

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet has an idea: Buy him out and watch him sign with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Um… excuse me!?

In his latest 31 Thoughts column for Sportsnet, Friedman proposes a Fleury and Tristan Jarry tandem in Pittsburgh assuming that Penguins GM Jim Rutherford can move Matt Murray via trade.

Check it out: 

It would take a buyout, which I’m not sure Vegas wants to do in this economy, but would anyone really be surprised to see Marc Andre Fleury / Tristan Jarry tandem in Pittsburgh?


Hmmm… I’m not sure, Friedge. First off, I don’t see the Golden Knights buying out Fleury. He may not be the goalie he once was, but there’s bound to be a trade market for him out there. And if he is traded that likely means that his contract isn’t changing, so I don’t see the Penguins showing interest unless Vegas elects to eat $3.5 million of that salary. Doesn't seem very realistic to me.

I won’t lie, it’s a scenario that I’d love to see play out, but I don’t think it’s realistic. How cool would it be to see Fleury finish up his career with the Penguins though? It's a dream scenario for Penguins fans and likely for Fleury himself. Unfortunately, the hard dollars and cents reality of the NHL makes it pretty unlikely. Dare to dream though. Dare to dream.