One of the better parts of the Penguins getting new jerseys is usually seeing what kind of gear Marc-Andre Fleury and the other goaltenders will wear to compliment the new look.
In the Penguins most recent outdoor game in Chicago Fleury donned a Pittsburgh Steelers themed mask.
Now with the Penguins rocking their early 90’s Cup era threads Fleury is paying homage to both himself and Tom Barrasso.
Here is his mask
And Fleury is also going back to this familiar look. A look that had my wife give him the nickname “Cheez-its” at the time.
The yellow pads used to be Fleury’s trademark until he switched from them in the middle of the 2007-08 season after he was hurt for an extended period of time. Fleury has not worn these pads since December 6, 2007.
Part of the reason for switching from yellow to white pads was a doctor telling Fleury that the affect the yellow pads had on the shooter’s eyes was advantageous for them, not Fleury.
Given the fact that I tracked down the time frame from when he switched from yellow to white pads I thought I would have a little fun with the numbers.
Here are his career regular season stats when wearing his “Cheez-it” pads vs. his white pads. These stats are from even strength play only.
It appears the Doc was right.
Fleury’s best statistical season was the 2007-08 season and he played at a Vezina caliber level and probably would have won the Conn Smythe had the Penguins defeated Detroit in the Stanley Cup Final.
After making the switch from the yellow pads to the white pads mid-season he stopped 270 out of 279 even strength shots for a save percentage of .967%.
Now we all know that Fleury hasn’t sniffed those numbers again, but that year he was lights out.
Fleury’s sample size with the white pads has him right at the league average while his yellow pads are below average.
What does this mean? Nothing, I’m just having a little fun. Don’t take it too seriously, I repeat don't take this too seriously.
Here are the yellow pads back in action
The Penguins other goalie has some pretty nice gear for the third jerseys as well
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My thoughts on the Ryan Johansen signing can be found
here
The authors over at Hockey Prospectus have compiled their predictions for individual awards and picks for division winners/Cup winners. You can find that
here. My predictions are included.
Should Niskanen get a 10 game suspension for his head shot on Jeff Skinner? The case for it is made
here
Thanks for reading!
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