Today was a big day in the world of Marc-Andre Fleury rumors, as the Penguins officially asked the back-up goalie to waive his No Movement Clause (NMC) to allow Pittsburgh to expose him for the Expansion Draft.
Marc-André Fleury accepted the Penguins request in February to waive his no move clause for the expansion draft. Only for Las Vegas.
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) June 12, 2017
But before we go into the significance of that news, let’s go all the way back to October when the Penguins signed Matt Murray to a contract extension. At that point, it was clear one of two things were going to happen (whether at that moment or later), either the Penguins knew Fleury was going to waive his NMC, or the Penguins were planning on giving up assets to the Golden Knights in exchange for passing on Murray in the Expansion Draft. We now know, the more likely of the two has happened. Fleury has waived his NMC and the Penguins will protect Murray.
So now on to the next portion, “only for Las Vegas.” Here are the important facts surrounding Marc-Andre Fleury, his contract, and the Expansion Draft.
- Today, June 12th, was the last day “for Clubs to request that a player ‘waive’ his ‘No Move’ clause for purposes of Expansion Draft.” (From NHL press release)
- Fleury has two clauses on his contract, a “No Move” clause and a “Limited No Trade” clause. These are part of the contract he signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins in November of 2014.
- Players with NMCs must be protected in the Expansion Draft, unless the player agrees to waive it.
- All contracts will be taken over, with clauses, when the Golden Knights select a player in the Expansion Draft.
- Fluery’s limited NTC includes a list of 18 teams in which he can be traded to. The remaining 11 he must sign off on if a deal is made. We are unaware of which teams are on this list.
So, today, Fluery waived his NMC, for one purpose, the Expansion Draft. Once he is selected by the Golden Knights (or not selected by the Golden Knights) his NMC will be reinstated. His limited NTC does not affect the Expansion Draft, and will stand whether he is on the Golden Knights or the Penguins on/during the Expansion Draft.
This does mean Vegas will likely select Fleury as their pick from Pittsburgh in the Expansion Draft. But it does NOT mean he cannot be moved to another team by George McPhee and the Golden Knights.
Despite what has been reported, there are now three outcomes that can come from the Expansion Draft involving Fleury.
- The Golden Knights select someone else from Pittsburgh.
- The Golden Knights select him and keep him.
- The Golden Knights select him, and trade him to one of the 18 available teams on his NTC, or get his approval to trade him to one of the remaining 11.
In every outcome, Fleury will have an NMC and a limited NTC with his new team.
In conclusion, the news today does indeed clear the way for the Golden Knights to select the Stanley Cup winning goalie. However, it does not mean he will be the starting goalie for the Golden Knights. He could, but it’s not necessarily done, and won’t be until June 21st.
I know, I’m with you, I want things to be done too, but in the case of Marc-Andre Fleury, it’s closer than it was yesterday, but it’s still not done.
RJ
I dont think you should undersell this. Marc Andre Fleury has a ton of trade value right now and the Pens could have flipped him to about a half other teams and still come out ahead on value after the expansion draft.
MAF waiving his NMC ‘only for Las Vegas’ is one of the sweetest group of letters I’ve ever seen. He could have given Rutherford a list and waived his NTC just as easily, but he WANTS to come here. He wants to be the face of our franchise and he wants to be the GUY. We always hoped that Las Vegas would become a desireable destination and Marc Andre Fluery (I could kiss his beautiful face) is the guy who is setting that trend.
In return, we should plan on giving him that respect back. Let’s enjoy having one of the most popular names in hockey in our uniform. Let’s not pass on him to take some mid range AHL prospect and lets not flip him for parts. Let’s accept that we have an opportunity to get a bonafide face for a franchise and let’s enjoy it.
Welcome to Las Vegas Marc Andre Fluery. Let me know when and I’ll take you and your wife out for The best $12.99 prime rib you’ll ever have.
lazyteeds
Well said.
Phisig150
Fleury is in the lead for jersey that’ll I buy although if they get Ryan the Grim Reaver Reaves he might get the nod. Pretty excited and we get a young stud he can help groom ala Murray
Dwayne Lucyk
I sure hope the Knights select the “Flower” and keep him as their number one goalie and don’t flip him to another team, especially not to Calgary. MAF showed it again that he is a classy person by passing the Stanley Cup to their other goalie Murray, after he finished hoisting it and Murray was so grateful that he did because as he put it, his low rank on the team. Murray wins two consecutive cups and is still classified as a rookie.
Willy702
Let’s see who the Pens expose first before getting crazy here. A goalie whose likely useful years will end at the beginning of the VGK window to win doesn’t make a lot of sense. Yes he could help groom a prospect, but still that’s a big contract on a player with injury issues and a lot of wear and tear having been a #1 from a young age.
RJ
You’re right, there probably wont be much overlap between the 3-4 years Fleury has left as a top goalie and the window for Las Vegas to be a playoff hockey team.
But it seems like you are forgetting that we need to put a team on the ice this year and all those years in between. This isn’t NHL ’17 where you can dump all salary to the bare minimum, rack up picks, lose as many games as possible for a few seasons to try to strike it rich on a great draft. Real sports dont work like that.
For one, there are 30 other GMs trying to create as good a team as possible as well. They will not be looking to move picks and prospects here out of the goodness of their hearts. They also want to strike it rich in every draft.
Secondly there are the 17,500 seats we need to fill 41 times a year. A ECHL/AHL quality team that loses 35 of those games are going to get people really excited about the Raiders. I’m not saying we need to win a Stanley Cup year one-or even make the playoffs-or even be above.500-or even be good. I am saying we need to compete and have a product on the ice that people want to pay money to see. The Las Vegas Wranglers averaged about 4500 people a game with sub NHL talent no they had a much better name. We need to have an NHL roster.
Thirdly, if we gather all these picks and lose a ton of games there is no guarantee we will get a good draft pick. Look at the Avalanche, they worked their ass off losing those games and in return they get the fourth pick? I’m sure Joe Sakic wishes there was a reset button he could push to try again; but there isn’t.
Let’s get the big name player and be happy to have him in our uniform. Selling him for a third line prospect and a 4th round pick will not return the value of having him introduce hockey to a city full of people who have never has skates on.
Willy702
If Dumoulin is available then why wouldn’t you take a young and up and coming D man and figure the many other goalies they can pick would do just as well? Name players who will age out in 3 years are the last thing this team will need.
Cappy
Heck of a lot more to do in Vegas than in Pittsburgh