We all got the feeling that the Pittsburgh Penguins were interested in getting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury back, especially when the veteran netminder hit the trade market.
We just didn’t know how badly they wanted him.
According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, the Penguins have tried “very hard” since the offseason to re-acquire their former three-time Stanley Cup-winning goaltender. The Golden Knights turned them down on multiple occasions.
That was before general manager Jim Rutherford resigned, he who was at the forefront of those talks during the offseason. Then, interim Pens GM Patrik Allvin tried as recently as “a couple of weeks” ago, but Vegas has insisted on ‘no.’
We wonder if new GM Ron Hextall and president of hockey operations Brian Burke will be back at it?
We would all love a reunion between the Penguins and Flower. He spent the first 13 years of his career in Pittsburgh, which ended when the Pens
left him unprotected in the 2017 expansion draft, and the Golden Knights jumped at the chance to take him.
The Penguins have has issues in between the pipes for a while and now with the duo of Casey DeSmith and Tristan Jarry in net, both pitching under .890 in save percentage, they need Flower more than ever.
Fleury is 96-50-14 with a .915 save percentage with Vegas and might have convinced the Golden Knights to keep him in Sin City. During the postseason this past summer, his name was mentioned more than once in trade chatter in order to get the Knights under the salary cap. Trade talks intensified when Vegas signed Robin Lehner to a five-year extension at $5 million AAV : no one could imagine the Knights committing $12 million combined for two goalies.
But the team managed to do so, but that hasn’t apparently discouraged the Penguins from asking about Fleury and the possibility of getting him back in between the pipes in Pittsburgh.
For now, the Penguins have failed more than once to get him back. Fleury once said he wants to retire in Vegas eventually. And he’s been so good lately, we can’t imagine the Knights agreeing to move him now!
