Perhaps the most shocking thing to happen in the NHL this offseason was a trade between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Chicago Blackhawks that saw
Marc-Andre Fleury traded.
Fleury, 36, was coming off of a Vezina Trophy winning season, which added to the surprise of this move. In the days following, there were rumors that he was considering retirement, though he has since changed his mind. While the happy-go-lucky goaltender would never dare say anything negative about the situation to the media, it was clear that he was caught off guard by the transaction.
«We had a year-end meeting right after the playoffs and we talked a bit about it,» said Fleury in regards to a potential trade. «It's something that had been in [rumors] a lot. But at the time, Kelly [McCrimmon] said he was going to look at all of the options. I think I then called him in early, mid-July to see what he was thinking, which way he was leaning. At the time, he wasn't sure. He was listening to teams. He didn't have a direct idea of what he wanted to do for next season. My agent had talked to him after the Draft and at that time, too, he was still unsure of what he wanted to do."
«Then I found out a few days later that I got traded.»
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It has been well documented since the move that Fleury has been disrespected many times for a goalie of his caliber, one that will undoubtedly be put into the Hall of Fame once his career wraps up. Despite this, he has never spoken badly of anyone or any situation, so it isn't a surprise that he took the high road here once again. His agent in Allen Walsh, however, didn't mince words on how he felt about the move.
«The fact the trade call may not have been completed is a weak excuse,» Walsh said, confirming that Fleury learned of the trade over social media. «I've had plenty of calls from GMs on trades before the trade call was finished. Flower was the face of the franchise, Vegas was everything to him. You think about honor and integrity, all that the Golden Knights stand for as the owner said. You would think someone would call and say: ‘Marc-Andre, we just want you to know we have a verbal agreement to trade you. We can discuss more later but just want to show you the respect of letting you know direct from us. Thank you for everything.' It only needed to be 30 seconds. Flower had earned at least that much respect.»
Though Walsh is a fairly controversial agent, it is tough to argue what he is saying here. As he mentioned, Fleury had been the face of their franchise since joining the league in 2017-18, and it feels like they did him wrong here. Hopefully he is able to use it as motivation and can build off of his incredible 2020-21 season.
https://twitter.com/DFOHockey/status/1441024723790434307?s=20
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