Anderson: Penguins Core Should be 4; Marc-Andre Fleury Legacy

It’s near about mid-August. The dog days of the NHL calendar. No better time to talk about a player whose name seems to always evoke a strong response from Penguins faithful. Marc-Andre Fleury.

See? You had a gut reaction, didn’t you? Perhaps fond memories. Maybe a jolt wondering if this is going to be news of him somehow rejoining the Penguins. Possibly even some eye-rolling.

When it comes to Penguins fans, the topic of the affable, capable former franchise goaltender and his legacy never seems to fade away completely. Could be when Fleury is looking for a new contract, maybe even a new team, and rumors and wishful thinking and even dismay over a potential return surface.

Could be during the season or playoffs when highlights feature Fleury with whatever post-Penguins team he is on – he’s been on three since leaving his original team, currently on a re-upped contract with Minnesota.

Could be anytime. Because Fleury’s name is always a conversation starter in Penguins Nation, on any day of the week that ends in “day.”

So, yeah, let’s talk some Fleury.

This time, the idea of the topic was sparked by some responses when former Penguins teammate Bill Guerin, now the Wild general manager, re-signed Fleury to a two-year, $7 million deal.

The disappointment that showed up on places such as social media were understandable given that Fleury was beloved by many, if a little misguided. The Penguins weren’t bringing him back.

But the vocal minority is what stood out, what led to this discussion. Some expressed relief that there was no chance of Fleury coming back, that at 37 he was too far past his prime. And even that he was and always has been overrated.

For those in that last group, shame on you. Overrated?

Feel free to make your thoughts known in the comments, but the stance in the body of this discussion is, well, not up for discussion.

Fleury is one of the very best goalies in NHL history. A sure Hall of Famer. Since this is a thing in recent years, he arguably has a spot on the Mt. Rushmore of NHL goaltenders.

Just in terms of pure numbers, that is hard to dispute. Check out the top six in NHL history:

1. Martin Brodeur, 691 wins, 2.24 GAA, .912 SV%
2. Patrick Roy, 551, 2.54, .910
3. Marc-Andre Fleury, 520, 2.57, .913
4. Roberto Luongo, 489, 2.52, .919
5. Ed Belfour, 484, 2.50, .906
6. Henrik Lundquist, 459, 2.43, .918.

Go ahead. Try to poke-check holes in Fleury’s legacy.

Here’s something to bounce off a goalpost: Fleury should never have left the Penguins. The celebrated core should still be four – Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Fleury.

That’s not revisionist history. At the time that Matt Murray was chosen over Fleury, when a handshake deal was struck to leave unprotected so the Vegas Golden Knights could select him in the 2017 expansion draft, this writer didn’t go public with it but told several people the Penguins were making a mistake.

PHN Colleague Dan Kingerski did go public.

Sure, Fleury was 10 years older and many millions more expensive than Murray, but as good as Murray was in the two Stanley Cup runs leading up to that expansion draft, Murray had never been a No. 1 goalie for the entirety of an NHL season. That was a risk that, as it turns out, came back to hurt the Penguins.

Fleury was a known commodity, even if the team’s preference in the playoffs leaned toward Murray, something apparently based on a coach’s comfort level.

It would not have been easy to fit Fleury under the salary cap at that point, but it could have been accomplished, just as bringing back Malkin, Letang, Bryan Rust, and Rickard Rakell somehow worked this offseason, even with a stale salary cap.

Fleury, in his first season with the Golden Knights, backstopped them to the Stanley Cup final and is still going strong despite some overt mismanagement by Vegas and a season with a wretched Chicago club before moving to Minnesota.

Even if his role is reduced some in the next couple or more seasons (good goalies often play to 40, you know), he should finish with the second-most wins in NHL history and other numbers competitive with other all-time greats.

Overrated? Seriously?

Where does that come from?

Perhaps because early in his career, the Gumby-like goalie relied heavily on sometimes outrageous athletic saves. He never lost that ability, but he also grew into an incredibly sound goaltender.

Perhaps the side-eye sometimes thrown at Fleury comes from his personality. He is, in a word, goofy. There’s no denying that. He has a hard time suppressing that toothy grin. He pats his goalposts as thanks when a shot goes off one of them. He’s a class-A prankster.

But don’t be fooled. Fleury cares. To his core.

You didn’t think we would post a lengthy Marc-Andre Fleury discussion without offering a couple of anecdotes, did you? These two illustrate the two sides of Fleury’s personality.

Marc-Andre Fleury Stories

In fall 2008, when the Penguins opened the season in Sweden, the players were on a prepared scavenger hunt as a team-building outing. Fleury was walking through Skansen, the Stockholm zoo, when he spotted a line of golf carts used by staff.

He ran over and looked in every one of them to see if somehow a key had been left. None had. Good thing. He probably would have commandeered one and taken who knows how much grief.

See? Goofy.

During the previous season, Fleury, who has mostly been durable during his career, was out because of a high ankle sprain. One day before practice, he went on the ice early to test the ankle, pushing off the ankle repeatedly to slide across one of the blue lines.

Nope. The ankle wasn’t ready. Fleury slammed his stick on the ice and had to be consoled by a member of the Penguins training staff.

See? He cares.

Much of his heart is still with Pittsburgh, too. Did you see the report at the trade deadline last season that Fleury invoked a clause in his contract and declined the trade to Washington because of the Capitals’ long rivalry with the Penguins and his remaining loyalty to the club that drafted him first overall in 2003?

Maybe one day Fleury will do something whacky – or, really, not so whacky – and sign a one-day tryout contract or some such so that he can retire as a Penguin.

Well, that has been our Marc-Andre Fleury discussion for the dog days of the NHL summer.

But we can’t wrap it up without some hockey eye candy. Here you go: