Marc-Andre Fleury — the defending Vezina Trophy winner — is now part of the Blackhawks, per reports.
The Hawks acquired the 36-year-old goaltender from the Golden Knights on Tuesday in exchange for minor-league forward Mikael Hakkarainen, taking on Fleury’s one remaining year of a $7 million cap hit in doing so.
It’s the second massive trade splash that Hawks general manager Stan Bowman, quickly abandoning his youth movement, has made in the past week. And in contrast to the Seth Jones acquisition, it cost him essentially nothing to land Fleury.
But it’s unclear if Fleury will actually report to the Hawks for this coming season. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Tuesday there were “rumblings Marc-Andre Fleury might choose to retire if traded from Vegas — for family reasons.” Fleury had only a partial no-trade clause and could not block a trade to the Hawks.
Fleury’s agent, Allan Walsh, tweeted after the trade broke Tuesday that “Marc-Andre will be taking time to discuss his situation with his family and seriously evaluate his hockey future.”
If Fleury does report, the Hawks would have one of the league’s best goalies to complement young Kevin Lankinen.
Fleury went 26-10-0 with a .928 save percentage in 2021 and went 117-60-14 with a .917 save percentage over his four seasons overall with the Knights. He’s a three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Penguins.
The Hawks would have to be creative to fit Fleury’s huge cap hit. Brent Seabrook and Andrew Shaw would be placed on long-term injured reserve, one or both of Malcolm Subban and Collin Delia would be traded in the goalie crunch and one of defensemen Calvin de Haan or Nikita Zadorov would also likely be traded to free up cap space.
If Fleury doesn’t report, however, the Hawks won’t have lost anything (other than Hakkarainen, who scored zero points in six AHL games last season).
Fleury’s cap hit would be completely wiped from the Hawks’ books in that scenario, much like Corey Crawford’s was after he abruptly retired from the Devils in January.
The Hawks’ biggest issue will be waiting for Fleury’s decision, unsure how much money to set aside for next season and how to manage the suddenly crowded goalie room, while other crucial free-agent negotiations take place. The NHL free-agency market opens Wednesday at 11 a.m. CT.
This story will be updated.
