Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner (90) and Marc-Andre Fleury (29) talk during warmups before Game 5 in an NHL Stanley Cup playoff hockey semifinal at T-Mobile Arena Tuesday, June 22, 2021.
Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021 | 2 a.m.
When the Golden Knights report to City National Arena for the formal start of training camp on Wednesday, they’ll do so without one familiar, famous smile for the first time since the organization began in 2017.
Marc-Andre Fleury is gone, sent to Chicago this summer in an emotional move. Fleury was among the most-liked, well-respected players in the Vegas room for the last four seasons, and seeing a Golden Knights team without him will take some getting used to.
His deal — a trade that brought Vegas nothing but cap space in return — is a cold reminder of the business side of hockey, and the Golden Knights are embarking on a new era without the former face of the franchise.
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“Flower’s been the heart and soul for quite a bit for our team and our organization, so it’s going to be different, but it just shows you how unstable the world of hockey is,” forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “No one is safe out there, so you have to stay on your toes and give your best every night.”
Marchessault’s relationship with Fleury was one of the more outwardly obvious. The two razzed each other more than any other Vegas duo, often in French from their shared Quebec roots. The two were both expansion picks and became fan-favorites for both their on-ice play and jovial personalities.
Brayden McNabb was similar. The defenseman and Fleury were two of the four players to grace the expansion draft stage (Jason Garrison and Deryk Engelland, both now out of the NHL, were the others) and were part of the core that helped turn the first-year team into a powerhouse.
“Everybody knows how good of a guy he is and how good of a teammate,” McNabb said. “It’s different, but it’s the name of the game and how it goes and we’ve got to move on.”
On its face, it’s hard to reconcile trading the reigning Vezina trophy winner and not receiving anything in return. The Golden Knights used the cap savings from Fleury’s $7 million salary to sign his replacement, free agent backup Laurent Brossoit ($2.325 million), and acquire some help up front in the form of forward Evgenii Dadonov ($5 million), picked up in a trade with Ottawa.
But the net is in more-than-capable hands. Robin Lehner, almost seven years younger than Fleury, signed for three additional years and $2 million less. He may not have a Vezina to his name, but since arriving at the 2020 trade deadline he’s been superb for Vegas, winning 16 of his 22 regular season games with a .917 save percentage.
He’s expected to draw a strong majority of the games this season as the Golden knights’ unquestioned starting goalie.
“He’s a great goalie, a great person and a great teammate. We’re lucky to have him and we have all the confidence in the world in him,” McNabb said. “I know he’s looking forward to getting going and so are we.”
While the goaltending position remains stable, Fleury’s absence will still be noticed. From the veteran players to the rookies, he seemed to make an impact on everyone. This story isn’t the first time Marchessault has been quoted speaking highly of the former Golden Knight, and when goalie Logan Thompson made his NHL debut last season in place of Fleury, he said he almost needed to pinch himself that he was playing with the future Hall of Famer.
“I feel very fortunate to be able to have played with him for the little bit that I did,” third-year defenseman Nicolas Hague said. “He’s a guy that I grew up watching win his Cups. Just a great guy. Always has a smile on his face, loves what he does. It’s definitely going to be a little bit different not having him around.”
It’s not the first time the Golden Knights moved on from a fan and locker-room favorite. James Neal signed with Calgary after the inaugural season, and Nate Schmidt was traded to Vancouver before last season.
This one is different, though.
In many ways, Fleury was the Golden Knights for the first four years of the team’s existence. They’re still going to be good. They’re the favorites in the Pacific Division and one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.
It’s just up to the Golden Knights to make sure the absence of the most beloved figure in franchise history doesn’t have a similar impact on a Cup-chasing roster than his presence did.
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