CHICAGO – Amid their whirlwind weekend, the Vancouver Canucks did not get to see goalie Marc-Andre Fleury Saturday in Minnesota. But Canucks president Jim Rutherford expects to see Fleury again – even if it’s next season.
There is interest around the National Hockey League as Fleury, the 39-year-old future Hall-of-Famer who is on an expiring contract, makes the trip to Pittsburgh--unfortunately, he'll be on the bench rather than in net--for perhaps the final time. The Penguins drafted the netminder from Sorel, Que., first overall in 2003, and Fleury spent 14 years and won three Stanley Cups with the organization before he was exposed in the 2017 expansion draft and became the first face of the franchise for the Vegas Golden Knights.
Then general manager of the Penguins, Rutherford was responsible for Fleury’s exit from Pittsburgh and the departure of an athlete wildly popular with teammates and fans.
“That was a really hard one,” Rutherford told Sportsnet last week. “And I probably should have made a different decision.”
The Penguins needed salary-cap space and Fleury, dislodged as the starter by younger, cheaper Matt Murray, was a moveable expense halfway through his four-year, $23-million contract.
But Fleury had just helped Pittsburgh win its second straight Stanley Cup, starring in the playoffs when Murray was injured but then watching from the bench in the final when Penguins coach Mike Sullivan made the surprising decision to go back to Murray despite what looked like Conn Smythe form from Fleury.
“There were a lot of people in that locker room that were like, 'Oh, wow, how do you do that?'” Canuck defenceman Ian Cole, a member of that Penguins team, recalled. “But the decision worked out because Murray came in and played great. Did it affect Flower? Absolutely. You're not going to be a competitive, professional athlete and just be cool with getting taken out of the lineup. Never.
“But also Flower never took it out on his teammates, never brought it to the rink in the sense of having a bad attitude or a bad vibe. I couldn't be more impressed with how he handled that. In terms of quality people, he's fantastic. He's up there with anyone I've ever played with.”
With Fleury getting the start against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, the longtime veteran will appear in his 997th regular-season game in the NHL. Only Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy and Roberto Luongo – all first-ballot Hall-of-Famers from Quebec – have played more. Fleury needs four wins to pass Roy’s 551 career wins for second place, behind only Brodeur’s untouchable 691.
“I can tell you 100 stories about this guy off the ice,” Rutherford said of Fleury. “My son, that was his favorite player, and Fleury was so good to him every time he saw him. So his first game back in Pittsburgh after he left, the Penguins won (5-4 against the Fleury and the Knights). I said to my son: ‘You can't go down and say hello to him. Do not.’ We're sitting in my office after, and the trainer comes in and says: ‘James, Flower wants to see you.’ And I said: ‘James, don't bother him. Don't stay too long.’ And Fleury talked to him for 20 minutes. That tells you what that guy is all about.”
Rutherford isn’t surprised that Fleury, now the backup to Filip Gustavsson in Minnesota, is still playing past his 39th birthday.
“It's just his makeup, his determination, his preparation,” Rutherford said. “He loves the game. He loves the challenge. And he just keeps going. That's why I don't think that'll be his last game in Pittsburgh.”
THE MARK OF ZEE: Few things ignite a fan base more than a star player getting walloped and his teammates’ response to it.
There are, however, fundamental differences in circumstances between Vancouver defenceman Nikita Zadorov taking an instigator minor and 10-minute misconduct Sunday for initiating a fight against Chicago Blackhawk Reese Johnson, who had crunched Elias Pettersson into the boards with a legal check, and Florida defenceman Mike Matheson’s bodyslam on the Canuck five games into Pettersson’s Calder Trophy season in 2018-19.
The Canucks’ physical response was polar opposite in Florida – there wasn’t any – compared to Zadorov immediately dropping his gloves and overpowering Johnson.
The Blackhawks scored on the ensuing power play Sunday, but the Canucks hung on to win 4-3.
Remember, this is mid-December, the Canucks have built a double-digit points cushion in the playoff race, their identity is clear under coach Rick Tocchet, and they led the Hawks by two goals in the third period. And Zadorov happened to be on the ice.
In Florida five years ago, the Canucks were tied on the road late in Game 5 and were desperate to win and establish traction under coach Travis Green, whose young team was still trying to understand standards and build culture. And the toughest Vancouver player on the ice at the time of Matheson’s hit, largely unseen in real-time by the Canucks, was goalie Anders Nilsson.
The Canucks scored the winning goal on Matheson’s next shift and beat the Panthers 3-2, for which Green lauded his players for their discipline and focus in defending their lead.
As winger Antoine Roussel said back then: “Retribution, it probably lasts for a week or so. But missing the playoffs lasts for a whole summer if you lose games like that because you are stupid. It’s a 3-2 game. It’s not really the time to go out there and just go crazy.
“If you think your teammates are not there for you, you don’t play team sports. You play tennis, you play ping pong, golf. But as soon as you play team sports, you believe the guys are going to have your back 99 per cent of the time."
The Canucks, on a 5-0-1 heater and 21-9-2 this season as they visit the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, are in a profoundly different position now. And compared to three weeks ago, so is Zadorov, who is winning over his new teammates after a Nov. 30 trade from the Calgary Flames.
“I appreciate it so much,” Pettersson said Sunday when asked about Zadorov going after Johnson. “It's not that it was a bad hit or anything -- I don't mind a good hit -- but it just shows he's going to back me up no matter what. It shows that you're playing for each other. It shows your teammates and everybody. It's what a good teammate does.”
It’s rarely a good idea to hand the opposition power plays, but as Tocchet indicated post-game, the Canucks can live with what Zadorov did.
“That's what you always try to weigh,” Cole said of the misconduct and extra minor penalty to his teammate. “Zee thought that was the right thing to do at that time. It may very well have been because you never like to see a guy take a run at one of our best players. Ultimately, we want to stand up for each other, and in that sense, it was a great move.”
EXPAND NHL REVIEWS: For many seasons, we’ve suggested two basic, sensible changes for the NHL: make a regulation win worth three points; and take the guesswork out of puck-over-glass decisions by having the NHL confirm them or allowing game officials to at least watch a monitor – you know, so they don’t have fewer resources than everyone watching on television.
We know there is little chance of the first due to standings culture in the United States (and the NHL’s elation with compressed playoff races), but the league’s ongoing refusal to confirm something as important and simple as the puck leaving the playing surface is baffling.
Canuck goalie Thatcher Demko, among many others, believed the Blackhawks’ second goal shouldn’t have counted because the puck ticked the netting above the glass before Nick Foligno scored on a rebound to break a 1-1 tie. Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t, but Tocchet’s staff didn’t have enough time to see all the replays before deciding not to lodge a coach’s challenge.
“I know Demmer and a couple players said it was (over the glass),” Tocchet told reporters. “But if you don't have clear-cut evidence, you can't do it. I always think over the glass, that should be an NHL thing. Hopefully, they'll bring that up maybe in the summer.”
After his press conference, Tocchet noted that games have been decided by questionable puck-over-glass calls and linesmen and referees should not be put in a position where they have to huddle without replays and guess about a call. He wants the league to make those calls. Join the club.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.