Marc-Andre Fleury Appreciation Thread (Selected by Vegas in exchange for 2020 2nd)

[Ogrezilla]

Trade Fleury for a top 6 winger and or a pick, sign Niemi.

Boom - instantly this team gets better. This team has needed a shakeup for about 3 years and Fleury is probably one of the only assets we could move to facilitate that shakeup.

Also does anyone have the stats on how often fleury gives up the first goal in playoff games? Especially the past two playoff series against the rangers?

I feel like he almost always gives up the first goal during critical playoff games and that fact gets overlooked

I feel like that's a team stat, not a goalie stat. Scoring has been a far bigger problem the last 3 playoff years than goaltending. Giving up the first goal has far more to do with us not scoring.

I'm not convinced yet. After 2 good seasons/post seasons I'll be convinced. I've already sent him a letter to let him know that a random Pens fan on a hockey forum is not yet convinced that he's a better goalie, so I'm sure he'll take it to heart.

But yes, he played great this season. Couldn't have asked for a better goalie.

He was good last year. He was great this year. Let me do some math here. 1 season plus 1 season is...2 seasons. Is that right? I think that's right. Then again, I only have a math minor; never got the major.

 

[JQR]

He was good last year. He was great this year. Let me do some math here. 1 season plus 1 season is...2 seasons. Is that right? I think that's right. Then again, I only have a math minor; never got the major.

I'll be completely honest, he may never convince me. I say I'll be convinced after another great season, but that's probably not realistic. I'll probably always be pessimistic about the guy.

 

[Ogrezilla]

I'll be completely honest, he may never convince me. I say I'll be convinced after another great season, but that's probably not realistic. I'll probably always be pessimistic about the guy.

Even though there is a clearly visible cause and effect between the hiring of the new goalie coach and sports psych and his improvement? I mean, he isn't just playing the same way and randomly having more success. He is playing like a different player. You can see it in everything he does on the ice.

 

[JQR]

Even though there is a clearly visible cause and effect between the hiring of the new goalie coach and sports psych and his improvement? I mean, he isn't just playing the same way and having more success. He is playing like a different player. You can see it in everything he does on the ice.

Objectively, I see all of that. But the past comes flooding back when he leaves his net to get a puck and has to scramble when he mishandles it. These wounds will take time to heal.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Objectively, I see all of that. But the past comes flooding back when he leaves his net to get a puck and has to scramble when he mishandles it. These wounds will take time to heal.

do you have the same issue trusting Sid and Geno to score in the playoffs? Because that has caused us as many playoff losses as Fleury ever has. And more recently to boot.

I can say right now that I am far more worried about our inability to score in the playoffs than I am about Fleury in the playoffs. Its really not even close. He isn't in our top 10 things we should be worried about right now. He is without question the biggest positive of this season from start to finish. He did more to help us win than Sid or Geno did all year long.

 

[JQR]

do you have the same issue trusting Sid and Geno to score in the playoffs?

I can say right now that I am far more worried about our inability to score in the playoffs than I am about Fleury in the playoffs. Its really not even close. He isn't in our top 10 things we should be worried about right now. He is without question the biggest positive of this season from start to finish. He did more to help us win than Sid or Geno did all year long.

No doubt, I'm not saying he's a problem at all. Just that I don't see myself ever being fully confident in him. The goalie situation falls about dead last on the priority list right now.

 

[Jacob]

Frankly, Fleury owes the team a few more years like he had this year when considering the mediocre regular seasons and playoff meltdowns he was apart of in the past.

He's clearly shaken whatever demons he had in the postseason. Hopefully for good. Clearly Bales has had a lot to do with it, but Fleury is the one between the pipes. His best season to date, start to finish, and as far as goalies go he's still in his prime. Hell, he's 2 years younger than Lundqvist.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Frankly, Fleury owes the team a few more years like he had this year when considering the mediocre regular seasons and playoff meltdowns he was apart of in the past.

He's clearly shaken whatever demons he had in the past. Hopefully for good. Clearly Bales has had a lot to do with it, but Fleury is the one between the pipes. His best season to date, start to finish, and as far as goalies go he's still in his prime. Hell, he's 2 years younger than Lundqvist.

I still don't think you can point to any one year and say Fleury is the sole reason we lost. Even against Philly, we played incredibly bad hockey in front of him. He was terrible, but so was the rest of the team. There's not a goalie in the league who would have won that series behind that team playing how they played.

 

[Cherpak]

I still don't think you can point to any one year and say Fleury is the sole reason we lost. Even against Philly, we played incredibly bad hockey in front of him. He was terrible, but so was the rest of the team. There's not a goalie in the league who would have won that series behind that team playing how they played.

It was a team effort to play that bad, but lets face it, Fleury found new and creative ways to let a puck get through him that series. Just glad he may have finally exercised those demons.

 

[Ogrezilla]

It was a team effort to play that bad, but lets face it, Fleury found new and creative ways to let a puck get through him that series. Just glad he may have finally exercised those demons.

oh absolutely, he was god awful.

 

[Confounding Factor]

Lol as bad as Fleury was during that series, I think Bryzgalov was worse.

 

[Cherpak]

Lol as bad as Fleury was during that series, I think Bryzgalov was worse.

That could have been deemed the anti-Vezina series.

 

[Ogrezilla]

That could have been deemed the anti-Vezina series.

anti-norris and anti-selke too. Probably the worst hockey I've ever watched. Letang's Shhh may be the lowpoint of this franchise.

 

[lastcupever75]

Frankly, Fleury owes the team a few more years like he had this year when considering the mediocre regular seasons and playoff meltdowns he was apart of in the past.
.

agreed

 

[nbonaddio]

agreed

The same team that destroyed his development by refusing to sign an actual goaltending coach for what, a decade? The one that threw him to the wolves because they had nothing else?

He doesn't owe this franchise ****.

 

[Saku11]

Lol as bad as Fleury was during that series, I think Bryzgalov was worse.

No way.I have never ever seen as bad goaltendng as MAF in that series.

 

[lastcupever75]

The same team that destroyed his development by refusing to sign an actual goaltending coach for what, a decade? The one that threw him to the wolves because they had nothing else?

He doesn't owe this franchise ****.

I didnt realize a former #1 overall draft pick and vet the last several years needed to be coached to work on his game and weaknesses like rebound control, standing up more, and stop flopping around like a fish.

what was he working on then? his smile and his video game playing?

 

[Ogrezilla]

I didnt realize a former #1 overall draft pick and vet the last several years needed to be coached to work on his game and weaknesses like rebound control, standing up more, and stop flopping around like a fish.

what was he working on then? his smile and his video game playing?

I would think he was working on whatever the old goalie coach told him to work on. Its not like the coach just says "hey Flower, work on rebound control." That's not how coaching works. He would actually be teaching him HOW to improve things. At least, he should be. This difference has not simply been a matter of practice and getting better at what he already did. Fleury has clearly changed the way he plays in the net.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

I didnt realize a former #1 overall draft pick and vet the last several years needed to be coached to work on his game and weaknesses like rebound control, standing up more, and stop flopping around like a fish.

what was he working on then? his smile and his video game playing?

You don't understand the importance of coaching for goalies? Color me shocked.

 

[radapex]

You don't understand the importance of coaching for goalies? Color me shocked.

Go ask a Canadiens fan about goalie coaches. Stephane Waite has transformed Price into the goalie he is now - the two best seasons of his career (by a long shot) have been the two seasons he's been under Waite's instruction, and Price gives him a ton of credit.

 

[Ogrezilla]

anyone who discounts the importance of coaching for any player at any position doesn't know what they're talking about.

 

[lastcupever75]

anyone who discounts the importance of coaching for any player at any position doesn't know what they're talking about.

who's crosby's and malkin's forward coach?

did they need coaches to tell tell to work on faceoffs or slap shots (sid's case) or do they work on their weaknesses regardless because of their work ethic

 

[Ogrezilla]

who's crosby's and malkin's forward coach?

did they need coaches to tell tell to work on faceoffs or slap shots (sid's case) or do they work on their weaknesses regardless because of their work ethic

do you really think Sid had no help improving his faceoff technique? He just kept on doing the same thing and it suddenly started to work?

More importantly, do you think its anywhere near as hard to improve taking a slapshot as it is to retrain yourself to stand up longer for a shot, to stand at different angles, or to change any other fundamental skill a goalie has? Again, he didn't just get better at doing what he already did. He didn't practice all summer and get quicker with his glove and legs. He had to fundamentally change what he was doing. That takes coaching.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

who's crosby's and malkin's forward coach?

did they need coaches to tell tell to work on faceoffs or slap shots (sid's case) or do they work on their weaknesses regardless because of their work ethic

So much ignorance.

 

[lastcupever75]

do you really think Sid had no help improving his faceoff technique? He just kept on doing the same thing and it suddenly started to work?

More importantly, do you think its anywhere near as hard to improve taking a slapshot as it is to retrain yourself to stand up longer for a shot, to stand at different angles, or to change any other fundamental skill a goalie has? Again, he didn't just get better at doing what he already did. He didn't practice all summer and get quicker with his glove and legs. He had to fundamentally change what he was doing. That takes coaching.

so your saying no one in his 1st 10 years here told him/showed him to stand up more, work on his rebound control,be more in control instead of flopping