Best for Penguins to trade Marc-Andre Fleury in light of Matt Murray’s new contract
Did someone order the Penguins with extra early season drama?
The Penguins are off to a 2-1-1 start and have picked up five of a possible eight points in the standings. That is good, but it hasn鈥檛 been pretty.
The season kicked off with goaltender Matt Murray鈥檚 broken hand and captain Sidney Crosby鈥檚 concussion. The team is allowing too many scoring chances and taking too many penalties. Defenseman Kris Letang (upper body) and forward Conor Sheary (eye) were knocked out of their 4-0 loss to the Canadiens on Tuesday. Neither played against the Sharks on Thursday.
And now, the goaltending controversy has popped up again.
What could have been a tidy backburner issue that wouldn鈥檛 have to be addressed until Murray was healthy has leaped to the forefront with his signing a three-year contract extension Thursday morning. The deal brings with it an annual average value of $3.75 million dollars that will kick in next season.
This is just another sign that Marc-Andre Fleury鈥檚 days in Pittsburgh are numbered. The coaching staff didn鈥檛 give him much of a chance to regain his job during the Stanley Cup playoffs, instead riding Murray to the title.
Murray, 22, will count only $628,333 towards the cap this season, which minus Fleury鈥檚 $5.75-million cap hit would give the team some much-needed wiggle room to add to what was a Cup-winning roster.
Keeping Fleury and Murray beyond this season 鈥� with a combined $9.5 million of salary cap space when the latter鈥檚 new deal kicks in 鈥� doesn鈥檛 make sense. Devoting that money to the goaltending position is a luxury a cap-spending team cannot afford. Those dollars need to be allocated to other areas of the lineup.
Stir in the fact that the league will hold an expansion draft to flesh out the roster of the new Las Vegas franchise in June 鈥� in which each existing team can only protect one goaltender 鈥� there doesn鈥檛 seem to be any other option other than to trade Fleury.
General manager Jim Rutherford, though, balked at that notion on Thursday.
鈥淟et鈥檚 just back up a little bit first, OK,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he focus seems to be on what happens with Marc-Andre. OK, but let鈥檚 let this play itself out first. Let鈥檚 just not presume that Marc is automatically out, OK. He鈥檚 been the franchise goalie here. He鈥檚 a terrific person. He鈥檚 a terrific player. I think that assumption is getting a little bit ahead of ourselves. Let鈥檚 let the two guys play it out. We鈥檒l see where that goes. If, in fact, it has to be a decision on Marc-Andre, there are several options in dealing with that in terms of the expansion draft.鈥�
What else could he say? He has never been one to show his hand and he isn鈥檛 going to in this situation.
Rutherford has a capable backup goaltender in Mike Condon and could use this asset and the cap space that comes with it to significantly bolster his team for a run at winning back-to-back Stanley Cups.