Vegas Golden Knights fans continue to blast team following trade of Marc-Andre Fleury

The Vegas Golden Knights made the controversial decision to part ways with the former face of the franchise in goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, trading him and the final year of his contract with an AAV of $7 million to the Chicago Blackhawks. Of course, this means that Robin Lehner is now the de facto starter in the Vegas crease next season. 

Lehner, who was acquired from the Blackhawks at the 2020 NHL Trade Deadline, has put up good numbers since his arrival in Sin City, and was one-half of the William Jennings Trophy winning tandem along with Fleury for the goaltenders allowing the fewest goals while appearing in at least 25 games. 

From the business standpoint, one can argue that Vegas is looking towards the future. Despite winning the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top player at the position for last season, Fleury isn't getting any younger at 36 years of age, and moving his hefty cap hit frees up plenty of space for GM Kelly McCrimmon to work with. However, it was the nature of the deal that have not only fans of the Golden Knights peeved, but hockey fans in general. 

Of course, this isn't the first time that the Golden Knights have done something like this. We all remember how they decided to unceremoniously fire head coach Gerard Gallant, the 1st coach in team history and a well-respected hockey mind that led them to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first year behind the bench in Sin City. 

Multiple reports indicated that Fleury wasn't informed of the trade by team management, but instead had to find out on social media. He was understandably surprised by the news, and took some time to decide with his family on whether or not he'd continue his career outside of the location that was promised he'd retire with. And needless to say, fans of the Golden Knights are not happy at all. 

After the Golden Knights paid tribute to Fleury with a full-page newspaper advertisement, fans continued to unload their wrath on team management for their decision. Check out a few of the responses below: