Quote:
Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder
Honestly only real blemish on his trading record is not getting MAF instead of Smith. Thats the only thing where I think it was a real miss, and this is of course with total hindsight.
I just think that the Pens would've given him away for less than what we paid for smith who has about equal injury concerns and is three years older.
But really that is a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things
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I think the only time when Fleury was legitimately available was the summer of 2016.
At that time, I think it came down to Fleury, Elliott, Bishop, and (probably) Smith. Obviously, each one would come at a different price and each had different concerns.
Elliott had the lowest cap hit and the Blues were willing to move him for a second round pick. He also had a strong previous season putting up the best Save Percentage and second-best GAA among starting goalies and helped lead St Louis to the Conference Final for the first time in many years.
The other options would have been more difficult to fit under the cap. Fleury and Smith were both signed for three more seasons with relatively large cap hits and both were considered to be on the downside of their careers. Fleury was coming off a playoffs where he lost his starter's job to Murray.
In 2017, I don't think there was really any time Pittsburgh would have moved Fleury, except for a big overpayment. Once Fleury agreed to waive his NMC for the expansion draft, Rutherford had no real incentive to trade him. Because of the expansion draft, the Pens were going to lose someone to Vegas. Losing Fleury meant protecting every other player who might have been appealing to Vegas. That means that in order to make trading Fleury worth Pittsburgh's while, you'd have to give them back someone better than the player they'd be likely to lose to Vegas.
There's no way he could have been acquired for less than Smith. Smith ultimately cost a 3rd round draft pick (Johnson was a throw-in and Hickey wasn't going to sign in Calgary) and Arizona retained salary.
