Marc-Andre Fleury — the defending Vezina Trophy winner — is now part of the Blackhawks.
The Hawks acquired the 36-year-old goaltender from the Golden Knights on Tuesday in exchange for minor-league forward Mikael Hakkarainen, taking on Fleury’s one remaining year of a $7 million cap hit in doing so.
It’s the second massive trade splash that Hawks general manager Stan Bowman, quickly abandoning his youth movement, has made in the past week. And in contrast to the Seth Jones acquisition, it cost him essentially nothing to land Fleury.
“The opportunity to acquire a Vezina-winning goaltender is rare and one you cannot pass up,” Bowman said in a statement. “Marc-Andre improves our goaltending, strengthens our team defense and will have a huge impact on the overall development of the Blackhawks.
But it’s unclear if Fleury will actually report to the Hawks for this coming season. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Tuesday there were “rumblings Marc-Andre Fleury might choose to retire if traded from Vegas — for family reasons.” Fleury held only a partial no-trade clause and thus could not block a trade to the Hawks, but had settled down in Nevada with three kids.
Fleury’s agent, Allan Walsh, tweeted after the trade broke Tuesday that “Marc-Andre will be taking time to discuss his situation with his family and seriously evaluate his hockey future.”
The unusual situation of trying to woo a trade acquisition was reflected in Bowman’s press release, which went above and beyond its normal praise of new players.
“Having a goaltender like this on our team will put the talent we currently have on our roster in a better position to achieve sustained success,” Bowman’s statement continued. “The entire organization is thrilled to have this future Hall of Famer on our team and his reputation of being an excellent teammate on and off the ice precedes him.”
If Fleury does report, the Hawks would have one of the league’s best goalies to complement young Kevin Lankinen.
Fleury went 26-10-0 with a .928 save percentage in 2021 and went 117-60-14 with a .917 save percentage over his four seasons overall with the Knights. He’s a three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Penguins.
The Hawks would have to be creative to fit Fleury’s huge cap hit. Brent Seabrook and Andrew Shaw would be placed on long-term injured reserve, one or both of Malcolm Subban and Collin Delia would be traded in the goalie crunch and one of defensemen Calvin de Haan or Nikita Zadorov would also likely be traded to free up cap space.
If Fleury doesn’t report, however, the Hawks won’t have lost anything (other than Hakkarainen, who scored zero points in six AHL games last season).
Fleury’s cap hit would be completely wiped from the Hawks’ books in that scenario, much like Corey Crawford’s was after he abruptly retired from the Devils in January.
The Hawks’ biggest issue will be waiting for Fleury’s decision, unsure how much money to set aside for next season and how to manage the suddenly crowded goalie room, while other crucial free-agent negotiations take place. The NHL free-agency market opens Wednesday at 11 a.m. CT.
This story will be updated.
