CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Where Marc-André Fleury is concerned, there is always laughter. And thoughts of his legendary pranks. And his omnipresent smile.
Make no mistake, there will be plenty of smiles tonight in St. Paul, where Fleury will be honored for his 1,000th game and for moving into second place on the NHL’s all-time goaltender wins list. He plays for the Minnesota Wild now, but Fleury is forever a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s fitting that his original team will be on hand for the events.
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A sense of sadness could be in the air, too. It’s unknown if Fleury, who turned 39 a couple of months back, will play beyond this season. So, it’s possible the Flower could be facing his former team for the final time.
“Yeah, it’s a possibility,” Sidney Crosby said, his voice dropping an octave. “I think you just try to remember the great moments. Obviously, this will be a special one if that’s the case. In times like that, you reflect a little bit, and you just look back at the great memories that you’ve had.”
Fleury was drafted three years before Crosby, but the two established themselves in the 2005-06 season. They played years before then for the Canadian world juniors team and have been fast friends since.
Crosby had tears in his eyes at the 2017 NHL expansion draft in Vegas, where the news became official that Fleury was on the move to the Golden Knights. At the time, the Penguins were cornered. GM Jim Rutherford was able to protect only one goaltender, and, in Matt Murray, the Penguins had a two-time Stanley Cup winner who was a decade Fleury’s junior.
Hindsight being 20/20, the Penguins probably should have traded Murray for a boatload of prospects while retaining Fleury for the bulk of his career so he could have left on his own terms in Pittsburgh with his friends Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.
But no objective observer thought Rutherford made the wrong decision at the time.
That doesn’t mean it was easy. Rutherford has said that letting Fleury go was among the most difficult decisions he’s made. A quick survey around the Penguins locker room made it clear that the decision in 2017 was brutal.
“You play together that long, you think everything will work itself out,” Crosby said. “You find out pretty quickly that this isn’t the case. There’s a lot of change, a lot of turnover that can happen at any time. It’s something that’s part of the game. But we had some great years together, some great memories. That year, there was so much turnover. You get reminded that it’s a business.”
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Bryan Rust echoed those sentiments. He played with Fleury for only one full season, but the two won the Cup twice together.
To see someone of Fleury’s stature get forced out of Pittsburgh was eye-opening for the young Rust.
“Obviously, you have an idea about how things might go,” Rust said. “But until you’re part of things firsthand, you don’t know. Sometimes things have to be done that people don’t want or that they don’t like. At the end of the day, it’s a business. There’s a lot of money involved.”
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan spoke at length about his relationship with Fleury and how challenging the goaltending situation was during the 2016-17 season. Sure, having two goaltenders is a great luxury. It can also be a burden.
“Those decisions were never easy,” Sullivan said. “Even the decisions leading up to the Stanley Cup runs, when we were utilizing Matt Murray and Flower to help us win the Stanley Cup. They both played such a key role in helping us do that. Flower and I had a lot of conversations through that process, as you can imagine. Some of those conversations were some of the hardest I’ve ever had with a player, and those decisions might have been some of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had as a coach just because we think so highly of Flower as a player and as a person.
“I think Flower and I had a good relationship. We were very straightforward and transparent going about what we were doing. During that process, those were very, very difficult decisions at the time. I know they were for Jim also. I do think there was a lot of communication that went back between Flower and us. My hope is that Flower was respectful of that.”
Though Fleury never won the Stanley Cup again after leaving Pittsburgh, the move was good for his legacy. He won his first career Vezina Trophy and led the expansion Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final, transforming himself from a great goalie into a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
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Crosby is looking forward to witnessing Fleury Night in person.
“It’s well-deserved,” he said. “He’s had quite the career. It’s another milestone and it will be nice to celebrate with him.”
Fleury opted against playing when the Wild visited Pittsburgh in December. It’s no secret that the longtime Penguins goaltender isn’t particularly keen on playing in Pittsburgh or on playing against his friends.
He is expected to get the start on Friday, though.
Crosby has played against Fleury in only five games over the years, mustering just one goal and three points in those five meetings.
“I could use some bragging rights,” Crosby said with a grin.
The Penguins are delighted that the Wild opted to hold the ceremony while they’re in town.
“I think it’s great,” said Jake Guentzel, who was a rookie in Fleury’s final season in Pittsburgh. “I got to know him a little bit. As a young guy, you’re not sure what to think, especially someone with his personality. But I loved him from the beginning. He was amazing.”
Fleury is the rare athlete who receives so much affection that, for a moment, you can almost forget a hockey game will be played.
“He means so much to this organization, to this city,” Sullivan said.
Frigid Minnesota isn’t always an enjoyable place to visit in February. But the Penguins are delighted with the NHL schedule-makers.
“There’s a lot of memories,” Crosby said. “The passion he brought to the rink every day. The energy. I’m not on his team anymore, but I know what he’s like. That’s the thing that comes up from his teammates to this day, the energy and passion he brings. That says a lot about him as a player and as a person.”
(Photo of Sidney Crosby and Marc-André Fleury in 2017: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
