Marc-Andre Fleury surprised he didn’t get traded, but will it work in Vegas
Anthony Scultore
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“Our goalies will be Robin Lehner and Marc-Andre Fleury,” Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon said. “We all expect a schedule that’s going to be extremely compressed,” he continued, “the importance of two goaltenders is really going to be valuable.”
Marc-Andre Fleury surprised he’s still with Vegas
In a recent French interview with Le Journal de Montreal, Fleury revealed that he found out about McCrimmon’s comments through the media. “I haven’t spoken to anyone. They don’t talk too much,” he revealed. “Like everyone else, I saw the statements where Kelly said he would count on Robin and me.”
However, it isn’t lost on the 35 year-old goalie that they were shopping him aggressively. “I still found it surprising I wasn’t traded,” he explained. “My name was rumored quite a bit for a trade, but I’m happy. I’m lucky to stay in Vegas.”
Vegas tried hard to trade him
It was never going to be easy to trade a veteran goalie making $7 million against the cap for two more years. It’s not to say Vegas didn’t try hard enough.
“Did we look at any number of possibilities? Sure, we did,” McCrimmon revealed. “But this was, at end of the day, the decisions that we made to move forward.” While he may be eluding to the compressed scheduled, and coupled with Robin Lehner clean up surgery for his shoulder, it was more.
You see, it has been revealed that they offered Fleury AND a second round pick with 50% salary retention to the Carolina Hurricanes. The deal died when the Canes demanded Vegas’ first also be included in the deal.
Like I mentioned….they tried really hard but found no takers.
Will it work in Vegas?
Fleury has expressed his desires clearly that he wants to stay in Vegas. “I will still play for a good team. I won’t have to move, which is also a good thing,” he noted in his French interview. So Fleury will make it work and has vowed to fight for the starting job.
The real truth is, there is no way the Knights want to have $12 million of their cap space on goaltending. While it will work in the early going of next season, you can expect the Knights to aggressively shop him to contenders at the trade deadline for a similar package they offered Carolina.
At that time, a deal will be more appealing for teams that believe are a goalie away from winning it all (cough Avalanche cough). There is also the added benefit of just having to deal with just one more year on his contract as well.
Fleury’s time in Vegas is still ticking towards a trade.