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Marc-Andre Fleury and the Vegas Golden Knights
June 2, 2017, 11:05 AM ET [147 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
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We have an extra day off in-between Games 2 and 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. The series will resume tomorrow night.

In the meantime l thought I would catch up with some potential offseason stuff. Normally I wouldn’t bother during a Stanley Cup Final, but with the Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft looming things are going to pick up really quick after the hockey is done being played.

I’ve given some thought over the past year on what the Penguins should do in the expansion draft. Should they go with the seven forwards and three defensemen approach or four forwards and four defensemen? And then there’s the elephant in the room with the Matt Murray/Marc-Andre Fleury situation.

Some new expansion details came out recently and they will influence the Penguins.




Teams will also have a period where they can ask players to waive their no-movement clauses for the expansion draft. This time period potentially overlaps the Stanley Cup Finals, so a special exception had to be made, betraying a little lack of planning in this whole process.

It has been previously reported that waiving of a no-move clause is for the expansion draft only. The clause is re-instated after if they are selected or not.

June 12: Deadline for teams to ask that a player waive their no-move clause. For Nashville and Pittsburgh, the deadline is the day after the cup final if that’s later than June 12. The time is 5 p.m. (all times are Eastern Time).


The drama here will be what happens with Marc-Andre Fleury’s no-movement clause. If I were a betting man I don’t believe Fleury will use this negatively against the Penguins. Because of this the debate between the 7F 3D vs 4F 4D approach might be moot. I think the Penguins will solve the expansion problem by just exposing/trading Fleury to the Vegas Golden Knights.

A Montreal based website had an “exclusive” about Veronique Fleury. Take it with a grain of salt.




From Google Translate:

Exclusive info from Pittsburgh this morning ...

I was confirmed in the last few hours that Véronique Larosee, Marc-André Fleury's wife, went to Anaheim Las Vegas recently (without her husband) to visit homes and schools. This is not a rumor, it is a fact.

And this is where rumor and speculation are born ...

What was she doing in Las Vegas? Why did they visit homes and schools for children?

Either she knows that Marc-André Fleury will play her next season, or she evaluates the chances of having to move there big enough to spend some time there and shop a school / house.

In either case, it can be concluded that unless there is a major turnaround by mid-June, Marc-André Fleury will be the first goalkeeper in Golden Knights history. It sounds like that ...

It remains to be seen how exactly it will happen ...

Will he lift his non-movement clause to be drafted through expansion? Will he be raised to be traded to the Golden Knights once the season is over?


Something else to take with a grain of salt is Nick Kypreos' report from March that George McPhee is interested in Marc-Andre Fleury




“A lot of people believe George McPhee is targeting Marc-Andre Fleury,” Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos said Saturday on the Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada. “Let’s face it, he’s the best goalie in the world that’s available. He can be a franchise type of player and certainly might be the guy that ends up being the face of that franchise in the very near future.


I say take this with another grain of salt because Nick Kypreos is one of those "Penguins are going to trade Malkin" truthers




They didn't trade him and a certain somebody is the leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy on June 2, 2017.

Let's say the trade rumors are true. Here are some trading details about the expansion draft.

If it is the trade route here is a passage from the Sin Bin blog about expansion trades:

Continued Compliance with Expansion Agreement: A Club that has agreed which Player it will lose in the Expansion Draft pursuant to a bona fide trade transaction shall continue to be obligated to comply with all other aspects and requirements of the Expansion Draft Rules (e.g., protection and exposure rules, compliance with critical dates, etc.).

Translation – If a team agrees to an Expansion Trade (Vegas will select a player or will not select a player in exchange for a draft pick, prospect, etc) they still must follow all Expansion Draft Rules.


Basically this is saying that the Penguins trading Fleury can count as their player selected for the expansion draft. This is a best case scenario for the Penguins and a realistic one believe it or not. All the drama surrounding what forward or defenseman the Penguins are going to lose might be washed away by the Capitals former general manager. George McPhee could be the gift that keeps giving to the Penguins.

****






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