Marc-Andre Fleury will continue to backstop the Pittsburgh Penguins for at least four more years after signing a contract extension, the team announced today.
The deal, which is for $23 million total, begins with the 2015-16 season and runs through 2018-19, and has an average annual value of $5.75 million.
"I believe in Marc-Andre Fleury, as the team does," said executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford, a former goaltender. "He's won before and he will win again. We're very pleased to have him signed long term."
As for the long-term effects of the deal, some, including Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News, are wondering if the extension will ratchet up the pressure on Fleury in a rabid hockey town.
"There is always a 'yeah, but' when people speak of Marc-Andre Fleury," Kennedy writes. "No doubt the Pittsburgh Penguins goalie has accomplished a lot during the regular season in his career and let's not forget that he was the netminder of record when the Pens last won the Stanley Cup in 2009, but...he plays on a team with two of the best players on the planet and more parades were expected by this point. So with Pittsburgh signing the affable goalie to a contract extension today, things just got a little more real."
Fleury is off to one of the best starts of his career, posting a 7-2 record, 1.89 goals-against average, .931 save percentage and a league-leading three shutouts, two of which came in his previous two starts.
"The problem of course, is a save percentage which, until this year's hot start, had never been better than .921...ever. In most years, that would put him outside the top 10 in the NHL, but his career average is considerably lower at .911," writes Kennedy.
Fleury helped the team win the 2009 Stanley Cup, and is the team's all-time regular-season leader in wins (295), games played (540) and shutouts (31). He has 52 career postseason wins, which are the second most in team history, and the tops among active NHL goalies.
"But Fleury hasn't been that guy. There was of course, the debacle against Philadelphia in 2012, when the Pens ceded 30 goals to the archrival Flyers in six games, many on Fleury's watch. There were even the close calls last season against Columbus, when the Blue Jackets put a temporary scare into Steeltown thanks to some less-than-clutch play by the Pittsburgh netminder."
Fleury has proved talented, but inconsistent throughout his career. With a new deal that includes a no-move clause and a limited no-trade clause, according to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun, Penguins fans are surely crossing their fingers and hoping they'll get the good Fleury for the majority of the remainder of the deal.
