On the Pittsburgh Penguins …
Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review: Penguins GM Jim Rutherford would rather not trade Marc-Andre Fleury in-season. He’d rather worry about the expansion draft after their playoffs are over.
“Our priority here is to win,” he said. “My preference hasn’t changed. Go back to training camp. My preference is to keep both these goalies here this year.”
If Fleury doesn’t want to be in the backup situation for the Penguins anymore and would prefer a trade to play more regularly, Rutherford would listen.
“The one thing I’ll have to watch for and keep the lines of communication open with the player is, is he OK with the situation that he’s in?” Rutherford said. “Going back to last year and to this point in time, he has handled it like a true pro. No issues at all. It may play out that we may be able to go right through having two top goalies on our team. We just have to keep an eye on what direction Marc wants to go here in the next few weeks.”
Fleury’s agent, Allan Wash, wouldn’t comment on what direction Fleury was thinking.
Fleury carries a $5.75 million cap hit for another two season. Only 8 teams have more than $3 million in cap space. Fleury also has a 12 teams no-trade list, but a bigger issue would be that not many teams are looking for a No. 1 goalie.
On the Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins …
Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News: The Dallas Stars need a No. 1 goaltender, and they should trade for Marc-Andre Fleury.
Kari Lehtonen has a modified no-trade clause, but how could you say no to a Stanley Cup contender.
With Ben Bishop also on the trade block, the Penguins can’t be too picky.
Lehtonen has a year left on his deal and the Penguins could eventually waive him or try to trade him. Lethonen is a closer match in cap hit to Fleury than Antti Niemi.