Penguins/NHL
Penguins goaltender Marc Andre Fleury was in the news this weekend as it was his turn to throw a celebration with the Stanley Cup.
Brotherly love! Making sure his sister gets a drink from the #stanleycup @penguins @NHL @HockeyHallFame pic.twitter.com/ShVLTvN05H
— Philip Pritchard (@keeperofthecup) August 6, 2016
In the immediate days after the Penguins won the Stanley Cup, many likely assumed Fleury’s celebration later in the summer would be coming as a member of another team.
A trade of Fleury never came to fruition leading up to the draft (the only time this summer the Penguins were exploring trading Fleury) in June with two NHL sources, including an executive with a Easter Conference team indicating Fleury’s cap hit being the biggest obstacle of all in the Penguins finding no market.
That isn’t going to change moving forward but there’s a little bit more to the story on where the Penguins thinking is now on Fleury.
As many in the organization have now decompressed from a tiring season that had a great reward at the end, one thing is clear, Fleury has quite a few people in the organization rooting for him to regain his starting job, not surprising considering how well liked Fleury is, and the talk is enough got into Jim Rutherford’s ear to make him believe [hide] that Fleury has earned the ‘right’ as one source put it, to go into next season with an opportunity to win his job back before trying to jettison him out of town again like the Penguins were initially looking to do prior to the draft
The biggest backer of all in recommending to Rutherford to not trade Fleury from the get-go was team President David Morehouse who has a strong admiration of Fleury. Morehouse’s influence on personnel moves has greatly increased with Rutherford at the helm and unlike the Shero/Morehouse relationship, Rutherford and Morehouse have a great working relationship.
One team source says following the draft, Rutherford just completely stopped looking for any Fleury trade scenarios out there, which caught some in the organization by surprise and believing ownership made their feelings known where they stood.
Fleury told NHL.com this weekend he’s had some positive conversations with management this summer and is looking forward to try to win his job back.
“I love Pittsburgh, and the Penguins are my team. I want to stay with them for the rest of my career,” Fleury said. “I had some good conversations with management after the season. Nothing is written in stone. I want to come to camp ready to win my job back. I have to get back to the same level of play and help the team, win games.”
A source with the Fleury camp says a conversation between Fleury and Jim Rutherford around July 10th had Fleury coming out of the conversation believing he will have a legitimate opportunity to be the long-term goaltender over Matt Murray.
“Marc expects to play out his contract with Pittsburgh and be the guy,” the source said.
Wishful thinking?
Most likely as the man really calling the shots will be Mike Sullivan who smartly favors Murray, but because of how well liked Fleury is in the organization and some top decision makers looking at the Penguins as having another three to four year window here to win another Cup with Sidney Crosby 29 years old, I’ve had some in the know and a few contacts with other teams believing the Penguins goaltending situation could play out much differently than many expect long-term.
It’s not a way to make hockey decisions but don’t underestimate how much Fleury is admired as a person by key members of the organization playing a factor in how this plays out.
One of Ray Shero’s biggest faults late in his Penguins tenure was his personal feelings/attachment towards players impacting his personnel decisions.
Jim Rutherford will be tested here with the Fleury situation.
One thing is for certain, Matt Murray is going to get paid next summer whether it’s with Pittsburgh, another team with an offer sheet or a trade. The Penguins decision is going to be made for them 10 months from now.
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