No Trade, Vegas GM Says Team Keeping Marc-Andre Fleury

You can hold the subtweets and shadow snark for any suggestions about the Pittsburgh Penguins trade aspirations or any other NHL trade talk for Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. It’s not happening.

That’s not opinion. On Monday evening, Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon firmly put an end to the swirling NHL trade speculation, which exploded during the recent playoffs when Fleury was relegated to backup behind newly acquired Robin Lehner.

On Monday night, the team announced Lehner had shoulder surgery, which opened the door to ask about the goaltending situation.

“We see the goaltending position being incredibly important this year,” McCrimmon said via media call. “Our goalies will be Robin and Marc-Andre.”

Put an end to the Penguins trade speculation around Fleury.

Lehner’s surgery was termed as a “clean up,” but Vegas feared the injury was worse. Regardless, the Fleury trade speculation should crash, at least until the season begins or McCrimmon pulls off another surprise trade for a goalie.

However, McCrimmon says the NHL trade market is clogged and doesn’t see an end in sight.

“It’s not just the flat cap, it’s the chosen response of some of the teams in the league,” McCrimmon said. Per NHL.com writer Nick Cotsonicka, McCrimmon feels the trade market will remain stagnant for quite some time.

“There’s not a lot of places that are looking to add players with big numbers or assuming contracts with term,” the Vegas GM said. “There are a lot of teams that are really trying to be as close to the floor as they can.”

The situation in Vegas began to boil early in the NHL playoffs after Vegas head coach Pete DeBoer gave Robin Lehner the bulk of the starts. Fleury’s agent, Allan Walsh, dropped a public relations bomb on Twitter when he Tweeted a picture which depicted a sword stabbing Marc-Andre Fleury in the back. The sword had Deboer’s name on it.

A couple of weeks later, more rumors emerged from the Western Conference bubble in Edmonton. Lehner was rumored to have agreed to a five-year, $25 million deal. Both sides denied the deal, but Lehner did sign that deal after the playoffs.