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When I heard the report that the Pittsburgh Penguins had tried to reacquire former goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (twice) from the Vegas Golden Knights in recent months, a lot was going through my mind.
Via Vegas Hockey Now, TSN’s Bob McKenzie told NBCSN on Wednesday that “the Penguins have tried ‘really hard’ since the offseason to take back their former three-time Stanley Cup-winning goaltender. The Golden Knights have died several times.
“Former Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford was at the forefront of these discussions during the offseason. Patrik Allvin, interim Penguins general manager, tried as recently as ‘a few weeks ago’, but Vegas insisted on ‘no’.
My first thought was, of course, that Vegas said “no”. Why would the Golden Knights say “yes”?
Fleury was fantastic. Before a 1-0 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, he had won his first five decisions with a 1.80 goals-against average and 0.92 save percentage. Meanwhile, the guy who won Fleury’s first starting position last year in Vegas, Robin Lehner, hasn’t been so sharp (3-1-1, 2.96, 0.88%).
In addition, the Knights are 8-1-1 atop a tight Western Conference. And the penguins have little to give back. At least nothing that wouldn’t be a massive subtraction from their current list.
Also, how could the pens soak up the remainder of Fleury’s $ 7 million salary cap reached this year and all in 2022? How much money should have been moved to make this happen? Or how much of the salary did the Pens expect Vegas to eat?
Not to mention what it would do on Tristan Jarry’s confidence. If that matters more to the franchise. Which it may not be.
Do not mistake yourself. I am a self-admitted Flower sycophant. I would have loved to see a reunion happen. Especially with Jarry’s struggles so far in 2021. Still, for all of these reasons, it’s no wonder McKenzie is saying the Golden Knights are giving the proposal a “strong no”.
But let’s get past all that awkward pragmatism. Who cares if the idea makes sense or not? If all of McKenzie’s report is correct, let’s talk about my guy Patrik Allvin!
Look, I get the concept of fishing at Rutherford to see if he could bring Fleury back in the offseason. The depth of the keeper was a question. Rutherford is a two-time Stanley Cup-winning general manager. He’s a Hall of Fame member looking to bring back a three-time Cup champion, whom he had no choice but to trade after 2017.
I understand all this. But Allvin? How about a little love for this guy ?!
He is an interim director general. Emphasis on “provisional”. He had the job for, what, 15 minutes? And he was going to have it for about 15 more. And, apparently, he was well aware of this probability.
Allvin is basically saying, “Oh, well. I only rent this car. Let’s see how fast she can go!
So it looks like he phoned at some point during the three week period to keep the fort going, and he decided to swing off his heels and try to hit a five-point home run on the first one. land he sees – with no one on base.
So Allvin recalls Vegas – after Rutherford couldn’t get the deal done in the offseason – and pointedly tells Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon, “I had a chance for that to happen. Let’s dance!
He’s like a Swedish version of Eminem.
Now, to what end? Honestly, I do not know.
Maybe Allvin was trying to impress the Penguins brass by doing something Rutherford couldn’t. That way, he could make a pitch for keeping the job full time. Maybe having Fleury was a personal passion, and he was going to do whatever he could to make it happen in the limited opportunities he had.
Or maybe he just wanted a commercial legacy that he knew most Penguins fans would love with his limited time at the helm. At least he would have a remarkable line on his CV for his next interview with the CEO.
It’s like Allvin wants to be power drunk, and he was going to be Tom Brady at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers boat parade.
And I like it! I’m all about it. I might even be a bigger fan of Allvin now than I am of Fleury.
A few other articles, however. Who was offered in exchange by Allvin or Rutherford? Was there something that prevented the talks at the end of Pittsburgh? And did that have anything to do with Rutherford’s decision to walk away?
I go around all these subplots with Joe Bartnick, originally from Pittsburgh and host of “Puck Off Podcast” for Friday “Breakfast with Benz” Podcast. We also discuss the hires of Ron Hextall and Brian Burke, the on-ice issues the Penguins have been facing so far in 2021, and the benefits of this odd schedule prepared by the NHL for the season altered by a pandemic.
Tim Benz is an editor for Tribune-Review. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication, unless otherwise specified.
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Penguins / NHL | Sports | Breakfast with Benz
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