PIT wants to get rid of Fleury. If they don't think waiving his NMC is a possibility even better. But why do most PIT fans say Fleury will waive it, it's bothering,
Several reasons come to mind.
A) Because of all the things Rutherford has said over the course of the season about not being worried about this situation at all. Rutherford has talked a lot about this throughout the season and at no point did he show any signs of being worried or nervous about it. And he's been extremely candid in his time here with the media about pretty much everything. He doesn't play the usual games. So if he didn't have some sort of plan with a backup plan, he should be nervous as **** about this - but he's not. Why is that? There's one very simple and very easy answer - but most on HF don't like it.
B) Because of the relationship that MAF has with this team, the players, management and the fans. This guy loves this team and this town. When management talked to him in the summer, he said he wanted to stay to try and win back the starting job and to try and win another cup. Which is all fine and dandy, but why does Pittsburgh grant him that when there's an offer on the table (Calgary's 16 and 17 2nds)? Unless of course they came to some sort of understanding in the summer.
C) The guy has made almost 50m over the course of his career to date. Why would he go out of his way to screw over the team and the fans simply to try and make a little more money?
There's no guarantee about this, but there's a reason why most PIT fans are comfortable with the current situation. And it's not because MAF has been lights out for most of the playoffs - we felt the same way in March and April.
Whatever the mythical team that would trade for him, would certainly also like to sign him for free as a UFA for less money.
If he becomes a UFA, Fleury only has to sign a 2 year deal for 2 million per, to make up the money he loses in a buyout. So he can sign a nice 2 year deal for 4.5 million per, and he pockets an extra 5 million over the 2 years by being paid by both teams.
Perhaps - but they actually need to come to an agreement first. What happens if Fleury wants 4 years of term? His contract gets bought out, and he's a 32 year old UFA (33 in Nov). Why would he settle for 2 years vs pushing for 3-5 years? What happens if the team that would have traded for him and dealt with the higher cap hit doesn't want to give him that term? We've seen this exact same situation play out before (Vokoun).
What happens if Philly really wants him, but refuses to trade for him and instead he signs with Calgary (or gets traded there, or vise versa)? There's absolutely no guarantee's in waiting until July if something can get sorted out sooner. This is why we saw Carolina pay a 3rd for Darling and why Dallas paid a 4th for Bishop. Both teams could have talked to those players well before the deadline and then signed them for free on July 1st. GMs toss picks and futures away all the time when there's a player they want who's available. But HF acts like every 1st and 2nd round pick is going to draft the next superstar, and thus their team absolutely cannot afford to move it.
