With a .921 save percentage and 2.29 GAA last season, Marc-Andre Fleury was one of the Penguins’ most valuable players through the regular season. But as we know, if the Pens didn’t have Matt Murray as the backup, the team probably wouldn’t have gone on a Stanley Cup run after Fleury suffered a concussion at the end of the season that forced him out of action.
Having a goalie tandem, or at least a fully capable backup, has proven to be a good plan in the NHL in recent years, whether it’s to keep a top guy fresh for the playoffs or just be prepared for an injury for a No. 1. So with Murray’s emergence after a Calder candidate playoff run and Fleury re-establishing himself as an elite starter the past two seasons the Penguins came into the season with one of the best situations in net, on paper.
In practice, though, GM Jim Rutherford doesn’t think it’s worked out so well.
“Despite the fact I like having the two top goalies, it’s difficult when both goalies are used to playing the majority of the games,” Rutherford told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “You get into weeks where they’re splitting and going every other game. That hasn’t worked, at this point, as well as I thought it would.”
Murray missed nearly the first month of the season with a broken hand, but his numbers have been much better than Fleury’s this season. Murray’s save percentage and GAA sit at .939 and 1.75, while Fleury is at .901 and 3.38.
The two goalies have mostly been alternating starts since Murray’s return in November. The 22-year-old has lost just once in that span while Fleury has yet to post a win.
With the expansion draft looming and the Penguins only able to protect one goalie, there has been much speculation what the Penguins will decide to do and the assumption is they’ll trade a goalie (likely Fleury and his $5.75 million cap hit) before the draft forces them to lose one netminder for nothing. But neither this, nor Fleury’s poor start, has Rutherford rushing to move one of his goalies.
“Not at this point,” he said. “The group of guys we have are certainly good enough to do well.
“That’s not to say there won’t be changes made at some point — all teams make a change or two at some point during the season — but I don’t feel any urgency as of right now to do that.”
After finishing middle of the league in shots-against per game last season at 29.7, the Penguins are now allowing the third-most shots against in the league with a 32.6 average.
“Our defensive play has to be more consistent, get tightened up,” the GM said. “We’re trying to do too many high-risk things, as far as on the offensive side of the puck.”
You have to assume Fleury’s game will pick up, which would in turn stabilize his trade value, so the Penguins have time to wait this out. The bigger problem, though, appears to be the play on the defensive side of the puck, as the Penguins are allowing way too many quality chances to their opponents.
With Fleury’s cap hit so high and the team up against the salary cap already, it seems inevitable he’ll be the one who, eventually, moves out.
