MAF was a major headcase and a big part of why Pittsburgh never won a single game past the second round between 2010 and 2015 despite having Crosby and Malkin in the height of their prime. Fleury was terrible in the
in the playoffs over that time frame.
In 2012, Pittsburgh signed Tomas Vokoun as a platoon option who could take over for Fleury in the playoffs, because Fleury was such a mess. Vokoun only started 17 games to Fleury’s 31 in the 2013 regular season, but come playoff time? Fleury got 4 starts, went 2-2 with a 3.51 GAA and .883 SV%, and lost the net to Tomas Vokoun. By no coincidence, Tomas Vokoun took Pittsburgh to the Eastern Conference Finals; something Fleury never did between 2010 and 2015. And this Tomas Vokoun I’m talking about? He was 37 years old and retired immediately after that season ended.
In 2016, when Pittsburgh finally got over the hump, Jeff Zatkoff actually won more playoff games than Fleury did that year. Fleury and Murray were both injured early in the playoffs and when both came back, Pittsburgh used Matt Murray - a veteran of 13 NHL games - before they used Fleury. They went to Fleury for one game in the Tampa series when Murray struggled and he wasn’t very good so they never put him in again.
Pittsburgh’s two best playoff runs between 2010 and 2016 - 7 prime years of Fleury’s career - came when Fleury was replaced by a 37 year old who was about to retire, and a rookie with 13 games of NHL experience.
In 2017, Murray was set to start game 1, and got seriously injured in warm-ups. Fleury took over the net for 15 games and played incredible. If that were some decent backup and not Fleury, Pittsburgh almost certainly loses against Columbus or Washington in the first 2 rounds and I give him full marks for out-dueling Bobrovsky and Holtby in each of those rounds. But in reality, that one run came completely out of nowhere and he wasn’t even scheduled to be the starter that year. And as soon as Murray regained his health and returned to the crease, Fleury never started another game. Pittsburgh did just fine without him as Murray won the final 2 rounds.
When push finally came to shove, Pittsburgh paid Vegas with a 2nd round pick in order to take Fleury’s contract over Bryan Rust. That would be like the Sharks paying Seattle a 2nd round pick to take Martin Jones over Marcus Sorensen.
Now, consider the asset Pittsburgh paid for Fleury: The 1st overall pick in the 2003 draft - one of the greatest drafts ever. They would have been much better off if they had just drafted Eric Staal (the first skater picked), Ryan Suter (the first defenseman picked), or one of ~15 other elite skaters from one of the best drafts in NHL history. Then consider the cap space they spent on Fleury: $5M or more when the salary cap was much lower than it is now. When you look at all of that you just prove PF’s point. They spent valuable assets and cap space on a goaltender who did a lot of good for them but also just wasn’t reliable and cost them a lot. 2/3 of their Cups with Fleury came when the actual starter was a kid they drafted and developed.