Marc-Andre Fleury — the defending Vezina Trophy winner — is now part of the Blackhawks.
But it’s unclear if Fleury, whom many expected to retire if ever traded by the Golden Knights, will actually play for the Hawks.
The Hawks acquired the 36-year-old goaltender from the Knights on Tuesday, taking on Fleury’s contract with one year left at a $7 million cap hit. The only official return was minor-league forward Mikael Hakkarainen, who will nonetheless continue playing in the Hawks’ system next season.
It’s the third massive trade splash that Hawks general manager Stan Bowman, quickly abandoning his patient youth movement, has made in the past two weeks.
The Duncan Keith trade to the Oilers, along with Brent Seabrook and Andrew Shaw’s functional retirements earlier this year, made the Fleury acquisition financially doable. And the Seth Jones trade from the Blue Jackets shifted the Hawks into win-now mode again, making the Fleury acquisition logical.
“The opportunity to acquire a Vezina-winning goaltender is rare and one you cannot pass up,” Bowman said in a statement. “Marc-Andre…will have a huge impact on the overall development of the Blackhawks.”
Yet there’s a decent chance Fleury may retire in the coming weeks, not wanting to leave Nevada at this stage of his career after settling down there with his wife and his three young kids. Fleury’s exact thoughts on the trade are difficult to nail down, because he didn’t speak to the media Tuesday — as most traded players do — and other sources gave conflicting reports on his mentality.
Fleury’s often outspoken agent, Allan Walsh, tweeted Tuesday that Fleury “will be taking time to discuss his situation with his family and seriously evaluate his hockey future,” adding that Fleury wasn’t notified by either the Knights or Hawks and learned of the trade through Twitter.
Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon, conversely, said he’d been in regular contact with Fleury since their exit meeting June 29. McCrimmon said he notified Fleury on July 12 of the Hawks’ interest and updated his “representatives” as recently as Saturday.
“Marc-Andre wanted to play in Vegas, that never changed…[but] this is a player that is at the very top of his game,” McCrimmon said. “I should think that he’ll play this year.”
The unusual situation of trying to woo an already-acquired player was reflected in Bowman’s statement, which went above and beyond its normal praise of new players.
“Having a goaltender like this on our team will put the talent we currently have on our roster in a better position to achieve sustained success,” Bowman’s statement continued. “The entire organization is thrilled to have this future Hall of Famer on our team and his reputation of being an excellent teammate on and off the ice precedes him.”
If Fleury does come to Chicago, the Hawks’ goalie duo of him and young Kevin Lankinen would become one of the league’s best.
Fleury went 26-10-0 with a .928 save percentage last season en route to the Vezina. He’s 492-276-82 (a 103-point annual pace) with a .913 save percentage and three Stanley Cup championships in his 17-year career, making him one of the most accomplished goalies of the cap era.
The Hawks would have to be creative to fit Fleury’s huge cap hit, moving Seabrook and Shaw’s contracts to long-term injured reserve and potentially making other trades. One or both of Malcolm Subban or Collin Delia could be jettisoned in the goalie crunch.
If Fleury retires, however, the Hawks won’t lose anything: his cap hit would be completely wiped from the books in that scenario. Fleury could also potentially request a trade to the Penguins.
The biggest issue will be waiting indefinitely for Fleury’s decision, unsure how much money to set aside and how to manage the suddenly crowded goalie room, while other crucial free-agent negotiations take place. The free-agent market opens Wednesday morning.
But the Hawks consider that, understandably, a risk worth taking.
