Can Marc-Andre Fleury Get Into The NHL Hall Of Fame Some Day?

Last night I was watching "#1 Cochran Sports Showdown" on KDKA and the host of the show Bob Pompeani asked his panel a very good question. The question Bob asked his panel was after watching Fleury play for the Golden Knights this season if he increased his chances of getting into the Hall Of Fame someday.

The three panelists Paul Zeise, Chris Mack and Will Graves all said that after Fleury's career is over that he will get elected in the Hall Of Fame.

If someone asked me if I think that Fleury should be Hall Of Famer or if I think he will be elected into the Hall Of Fame someday I don't think I could answer any of those questions.

Fleury started playing in the NHL for the Penguins in the 2003-04 NHL season but he was not good at the time as his record was way below .500 it was not even funny. And it was not him that was playing bad it was that whole team that played bad before the 2006-07 NHL season. I have clearly remembered Marc-Andre Fleury playing for the Penguins since I was in kindergarten which was in 2006. Now Fleury was pretty good and was a brick wall in my younger years when I was still in primary school as he got the Penguins to two Stanley Cup Finals in 2008 and 2009 and won the Cup in 2009. His record was also pretty spectacular as well while I was in primary school as in the 2006-07 NHL regular season he had a record 40-16-9 and in the 2008-09 NHL regular season he had a record of 35-18-7 and it was just an absolute monster throughout that whole playoff run the Penguins had in 2009.

But then Fleury starts playing in the 2010-11 NHL season and things start to look bad. Between the 2010-11 NHL season and the 2014-15 NHL season Fleury was not even close to a monster and would give up a lot of weak goals throughout that time especially in the playoffs.

Now it's not like his stats his statistics in the regular season were awful during those years it's just that during playoff time you could sense that he would not do well if the Penguins actually got into the Stanley Cup Finals. People might even say that during those years that Fleury might have not had a strong defense and that's why they could not go far during those years but I am telling you that Fleury was a big part of why the Penguins could not make it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2013 when the Penguins faced the Bruins and the Bruins swept them, a big part of why the Penguins blew a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Rangers in 2014 and a big reason the Rangers smacked the Penguins in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals in 2015. Fleury would just give up weak goals throughout that span that the defense probably thought to themselves that no matter how hard they played that Fleury was going to give up weak goals anyway. And I really liked the Penguins defense during that span as well.

But then all of a sudden in the 2015-16 NHL season Fleury would not give up those weak goals as the only goals he would give up would be goals that he was not supposed to stop. The Penguins added some key players during that year as well. But then Fleury got injured late in the regular season when he was not playing terrible and then all of a sudden he got injured and nobody knew how long he would be out that he was probably going to miss some of the playoffs which he did. Then all of a sudden the Penguins backup goalie Matt Murray steps out on the ice to play the final three or four games of the regular season and Murray plays like a monster. He plays so well in those final games of the regular season that the Penguins feel comfortable in having him play in the playoffs. Murray then gets injured in warmups before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Rangers that the Penguins put their other backup goalie Jeff Zatkoff in to see if he can somehow find a way to win and Zatkoff started Games 1 and 2 and won Game 1 of that series.

Murray was able to come back in Game 3 of that series and able to win against the Rangers in that series and next thing you know he defeated the Washington Capitals in the Semifinals and then he defeated the Senators in the Eastern Conference Finals. Fleury was cleared to play during the series against the Capitals but head coach Mike Sullivan saw how good Murray was playing that he would just put Fleury on the bench as a backup. Murray would later defeat the Sharks in the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals. Fleury did start one game in the 2016 playoffs as he started in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Lightning but lost 4-3 in overtime.

The next year in the 2016-17 NHL season Matt Murray started most of the games for the Penguins and Fleury would play some games here and there. Murray would get injured before the playoffs that year and that meant Fleury would have to start the playoffs. And let me tell you that Fleury was playing some sensational hockey as he whooped the Blue Jackets in the quarterfinals, defeated the Capitals in the semifinals and won Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Senators.

But then all of a sudden Fleury becomes a little shaky as when he played against the Senators in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals he gave up four goals in the first period of play and the Fleury I saw play in that game was the Fleury that I remembered seeing between the 2010-11 season through the 2014-15 season. Head coach Mike Sullivan decides to put Matt Murray in and Murray gets the Penguins to defeat the Senators in the Conference Finals and then would play all the games in the Stanley Cup Finals and beat the Nashville Predators in six games.

Fleury must have realized that he was not the starting goalie for the Penguins as Matt Murray was in net in the game where the Penguins would win the last two Stanley Cups. As much as how well Fleury played in the beginning of the 2017 playoffs I knew that Murray should be the starting goalie for the future because of how solid he was playing.

I guess Fleury did not want to be a backup anymore and wanted to play somewhere else and Fleury got a job as the Vegas Golden Knights starting goalie. I don't understand why the Penguins decided not to pay money equally to both Murray and Fleury but I guess one of them wanted more money than the other and they could not both of them a lot I guess.

Then we all know Fleury played exceptional this past season as he would get Vegas to the playoffs, win the division and get his team to the Stanley Cup Finals. Now I swear to you all that the only reason that Vegas made it this far because Fleury played at such a high level that we have never seen him play before.

Fleury had to be playing hard throughout the whole season to prove to the Penguins they should've kept him, give him more money, give him the opportunity as a starter and make Matt Murray the backup or something.

In order to win championships you have to have two of something. When the Penguins won back to back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017 they had two good goaltenders. When the Washington Capitals just won the Stanley Cup they had two goaltenders in Braden Holtby and their backup goalie Philipp Grubauer can play too. When the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl this year they had two good quarterbacks that can play in Nick Foles and Carson Wentz. The whole Warriors team have players that are not afraid to make shots to help their team win and that's why they have won 3 NBA championships in the past four years.

But anyway after watching Marc-Andre play throughout my whole life and all the ups and downs he has been through he probably will make it into the Hall Of Fame someday as he has three Stanley Cup championships but he deserves to be in the Hall Of Fame most of all because of his attitude he brings to the game of hockey. When you look at Fleury it is hard not to like him. He seems as someone that you would want to be around with as he would only think of positive things when you are around him. He knows he is a good player but doesn't brag about being good and he just seems very humble when he is talking to the media.

Maybe Fleury will sign a one day contract with the Penguins before he retires or he might return to Pittsburgh for one more season when he realizes that is old and can only play as a backup. If Fleury can stay healthy and play in his late in 30s and perhaps play until he is exactly 40 years old that would be cool to watch as he has been in this league for a long time and seeing someone play hockey for a long time is pretty cool. But everyone has their own opinion on whether Fleury should or will make the Hall Of Fame someday.