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Defending Marc-Andre Fleury’s Contract

On November 5, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced a contract extension with 10 year veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.  The length and money of the deal was four years and $23 million.  The announcement came with mixed reactions.  However, the contract can be commended because Fleury won a  Stanley Cup with the Penguins back in 2009, and has consistently proven to be a good goalie in the regular season.

Marc-Andre Fleury signed a 4 year/$23 million extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins. (Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports)

In a league where it is hard to find a good, solid goalie, the Penguins have been able to lock up just that.  Since becoming the Penguins full time starter in the 2005-2006 season, Fleury has been one of the best regular season goalies.  In 521 career regular season starts, Fleury holds a 2.61 goals against average and a .911 save percentage.  The Penguins have been a playoff team year after year, and having a consistently solid goalie in Fleury has no doubt been one of the main reasons for their success.

The contract, at just under $6 million per year, is reasonable for the quality of goaltending that Penguins are getting.  Fleury has proved that he deserves to be paid and as a household name in Pittsburgh, $5.75 million is just right.  With the salary cap set to rise after this season, the money spent on Fleury will become less significant and will not cause as much of a hit.

The Penguins were smart to lock Fleury up as they would have faced limited offseason options.  As stated earlier, it is not easy to find a goalie that you can rely on season after season to be the backstop on the ice.  The Penguins are lucky to have a goalie where they know what they will get out of him and know they can trust.

If the Penguins decided not to bring Fleury back, there is little doubt that he would have gotten more years and more money from a different team in free agency.  Teams with goalie needs would jump almost instantly on the chance to lock up a proven goalie for possibly five or six years, even with Fleury being 29 years of age.

It is still early in the season, but Fleury appears to be in the midst of a career year.  In 11 games, he is 9-2 with a 1.99 goals against average and 3 shutouts.  At the “prime” of his career, this could turn into one of Fleury’s top seasons as a pro.

A concern in Fleury’s game can be seen in his inconsistency’s in the past couple of playoffs.  After posting good numbers in the playoffs from 2008-2011, 2012 and 2013 were a whole different story.  In those two playoff years, Fleury had a 4.63 and 3.51 goals against average, respectively.

Fleury struggled mightly in both the 2012 and 2013 playoffs. (Justin K. Aller/Getty Images North America)

Despite those struggles in the playoffs, Fleury had a nice bounce back post season in 2014, where he posted a 2.40 goals against average along with a 9.15 save percentage.  It is not a definitive sign of things to come, but it was a big step for Fleury and it very well could have decided his future fate with the Penguins.

Although there are flaws in Fleury’s game, his contract extension is well earned.  Fleury may not be a superstar goalie in the NHL, but he is a good goalie and one that the Penguins and their fans should be very excited to have for four more seasons.

A concern in Fleury’s game can be seen in his inconsistency’s in the past couple of playoffs.  After posting good numbers in the playoffs from 2008-2011, 2012 and 2013 were a whole different story.  In those two playoff years, Fleury had a 4.63 and 3.51 goals against average, respectively.

Despite those struggles in the playoffs, Fleury had a nice bounce back post season in 2014, where he posted a 2.40 goals against average along with a 9.15 save percentage.  It is not a definitive sign of things to come, but it was a big step for Fleury and it very well could have decided his future fate with the Penguins.

Although there are flaws in Fleury’s game, his contract extension is well earned.  Fleury may not be a superstar goalie in the NHL, but he is a good goalie and one that the Penguins and their fans should be very excited to have for four more seasons.