CRANBERRY TWP, PA (93.7 The Fan) – The Pens play at Minnesota on Friday night, fittingly the night the Wild honor Marc-Andre Fleury for playing in 1,000 games and passing Patrick Roy with 552 wins. What his former teammates said about facing the now 39-year-old Fleury and Mike Sullivan on the decision to part ways with him.
What makes him great
When you think of Fleury, the first image is probably him with a smile. He brought an infectious energy to the organization and it seemed to spread throughout anyone he met. He had a rare mix hard work, passion and fun.
“Compete level, his desire to get better and come to the rink with a positive attitude every single day whether it’s after a 7-0 loss or a 3-2 win,” said Pens defenseman Kris Letang. “Whatever it is, he showed up the same every day, having fun. He kept the room cool, but at the same time he had the desire to get better every day.”
Alex Nedeljkovic never was his teammate, but 11 years younger than Fleury, the current Penguins goalie watched him growing up in Cleveland and it always struck him how exciting, athletic, yet unorthodox Fleury was. To him, he made playing goalie look fun.
“When you look at it, it’s a game,” Nedeljkovic told 93.7 The Fan. “We play a game for a living. It’s supposed to be exciting. It’s supposed to be a lot of fun. I kind of envy him a little bit that he can look at it like that every day. Every time he steps on the ice it looks easy to him.”
It’s not that other players have never had fun or smiled playing the game, but Nedeljkovic said what made it special is that he was able to be that, yet still be great. That is what is unique about the Pens 2003 first-round pick.
“He competes extremely hard and he’s extremely athletic,” said Pens forward Bryan Rust. “Playing rebounds when you are out there at practice and nobody really wants to be out there, he’s out there. He’s diving at every rebound. He’s the hardest working guy out there.”
And when he makes a save on you, he lets you know it. Rust called it all in good fun, but still potentially annoying. A smile came across Sidney Crosby’s face saying if this is the last time they face each other, he really wants to score because there will be bragging rights on the line.
“There’s a lot of memories there,” Crosby said. “The passion he brought to the rink every day, the energy. He still brings it. It says a lot about him as a player and person.”
“It keeps things light, especially when it’s a guy like him that’s had some much success,” Rust said. “Been around for a ton of years, makes all the other guys feel like they can have fun. There are times to be serious and times to have fun.”
Pranks
The fun isn’t limited to chirping on the ice or showing off a big smile. When you enter the locker room and Fleury is in the building, there is the angst of when the teacher is out of the room in middle school and the class prankster is allowed to operate.
His former teammates say filling a car with packing peanuts, which he has gone on to do at other stops in his career, is among the favorite pranks. Rust remembers just being with the team a couple of weeks and seeing his clothes hang from the rafters.
Crosby said there is always something, cutting a guy’s socks, cutting someone’s tie. One time early in his career, he zipped himself up into a hockey equipment bag to surprise a teammate. Rust said they will all be on alert when they enter the dressing room on Friday and he said the big thing is that he doesn’t get you.
Pittsburgh Ending
His time with the Pens ended after being a big part of the franchise fifth Stanley Cup. Fleury started 15 games in the playoffs in 2016-17 with a .924 save percentage and 2.56 goals against average following a regular season with a .909 save percentage and 3.02 GAA. They had a new goalie on the scene in Matt Murray, the expansion draft was coming and they could protect only one goalie. There was also the factor of how much Fleury earned.
It appeared Murray was the future, he excelled in his playoff opportunities with a playoff-leading .937 save percentage, 1.70 goals-against-average and three shutouts in 2016-17. In that regular season, he won 32 games with a .923 save percentage and four shutouts.
Mike Sullivan reflected Thursday on bouncing back-and-forth between the goalies and then ultimately the organization’s choice to go forward with a then 22-year-old Murray.
“There were some difficult decisions that had to be made in respect to that position,” Sullivan said. “Those decisions were never easy. Even those decisions leading up through the Stanley Cup runs when we were utilizing both Matt Murray and Flower at the time to try to help us win the Stanley Cup. They both played such a key role in helping us do that.”
“Those decisions are never easy. They are always difficult. Flower and I had a lot of conversations as you can imagine through that process, some of those conversations were some of the hardest conversations I’ve ever had with a player and those decisions might have been some of the most difficult decisions I ever had as a coach because we think so highly of Flower, not only as a player, but as a person.”
Friday night might be the last time they are on the ice together, at least in a NHL game. The love and respect for the future Hall of Famer is real.
“Obviously he’s a tremendous goalie, but a tremendous person and a great ambassador for the Penguins,” Letang said. “His career was incredible.”