When I heard the news that the Pittsburgh Penguins had been trying to win back former goalkeeper Marc-Andre Fleury (twice) from the Vegas Golden Knights in recent months, a lot went through my mind.
Through Vegas Hockey Now, TSN’s Bob McKenzie told NBCSN on Wednesday that “the Penguins have been trying ‘very hard’ since the off-season to get their former three-time Stanley Cup-winning goalkeeper back. The Golden Knights have passed several times.
Former Penguins CEO Jim Rutherford was at the forefront of those talks during the off season. Interim Penguins GM Patrik Allvin only tried it ‘a few weeks’ ago, but Vegas has insisted on ‘no’. “
My first thought, of course, was that Vegas said “no”. Why would the Golden Knights say “yes”?
Fleury was fantastic. Before a 1-0 defeat to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, he had won his first five decisions with 1.80 goals against average and a 0.92 save percentage. Meanwhile, the man who struggled with Fleury’s primary runway in Vegas last year, Robin Lehner, was not that sharp (3-1-1, 2.96, 0.88%).
Also the Knights are 8-1-1 on top of a very tight Western Conference. And the penguins have little in return. In any case, nothing that wouldn’t be a huge deduction from their current roster.
Plus, how would the Pens be able to take the rest of Fleury’s $ 7 million salary cap this year and the whole piece in 2022? What money would have been needed to make that happen? Or how much of the salary did the pens expect Vegas to eat?
Not to mention what that would do to Tristan Jarry’s confidence. If that makes any difference to the franchise at all. Which it may not be.
Do not get me wrong. I am a self-admitted Flower sycophant. I would have liked to see a reunion. Particularly with Jarry’s struggles so far in 2021. Still, for all these reasons, it’s no wonder McKenzie says the Golden Knights are taking a “hard no” to the proposal.
But let’s go beyond all this tricky pragmatism. Who cares whether the idea is correct or not? If McKenzie’s whole report is correct, let’s talk about my husband Patrik Allvin!
See, I understand the concept of fishing in Rutherford to see if he can bring Fleury back out of season. The depth of the goalkeeper was a question. Rutherford is a two-time Stanley Cup-winning general manager. He’s a Hall of Famer looking for a three-time cup champion, which he had to trade on his own after 2017.
I get all of that. But Allvin? How about some love for this guy ?!
He is an interim general manager. Emphasis on “interim.” He had the job for, what, 15 minutes? And he would have it about 15 more. And apparently he was fully aware of that probability.
Allvin is essentially saying, “Oh, well. I’m just renting this car. Let’s see how fast she can go!”
So it sounds like he got on the phone at some point during the three-week period of holding the fort, and he decided to swing on his heels and try to hit a five-run home run on the first pitch he sees – no one on the base.
So Allvin calls Vegas back – after Rutherford couldn’t close the off-season deal – and purportedly tells Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon, “I have one shot at making this happen. Let’s dance!”
He’s like a Swedish version of Eminem.
Now, for what purpose? To be honest, I don’t know.
Perhaps Allvin was trying to impress the Penguins buyer by doing something Rutherford couldn’t. That way, he could pitch to keep the job full-time. Maybe getting Fleury was a personal passion, and he would do anything to make it happen in the limited opportunity he had.
Or maybe he just wanted a legacy from the trade that he knew most Penguins fans would love with his limited leadership. At the very least, he would have one salient line on his resume for his next general manager interview.
It’s as if Allvin had longed to get drunk with power, and he’d be Tom Brady at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Boat Parade.
And I love it! I am all for that. I may even be a bigger fan of Allvin than of Fleury now.
Just a few other items. Who was offered in return by Allvin or Rutherford? Was there anything that bogged down the conversations at Pittsburgh’s end? And did this have anything to do with Rutherford’s decision to run away?
I’m kicking around all those subplots with Pittsburgh born and “Puck Off Podcast” host Joe Bartnick during Friday’s ‘Breakfast With Benz’ podcastWe also discuss the recruitments of Ron Hextall and Brian Burke, the troubles on the ice facing the Penguins so far in 2021, and the benefits of this strange schedule set by the NHL for the pandemic-altered season.
Tim Benz is a writer on the Tribune Review staff. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via TwitterAll tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless otherwise specified.
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