On June 21, 2017, Marc-Andre Fleury’s walked across the stage at T-Mobile Arena after roaring 10,000 fans. It was at this point that he became the starting goal tenderer for the Vegas Golden Knights, a position he would hold for more than three years, until yesterday.
For a franchise that has gone through a lot of changes in the first three seasons, if there was one place where you could find stability, it was between the pipe. After waiting four days for Malcolm Subban’s first game on offside, Fleury was the starter and Subban was the backup.
When healthy, there was never a question about who the Golden Knights’ first-choice goaltender was on any given night.
(Photo credit: SinBin.vegas Playoff “Photographer” @BadSportsArt)It worked that was almost three whole years. Fleury was the starter in the first game ever in Dallas. He started the emotional home opener against Arizona. He sat in the net for all 20 games on the run from the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final in 2018.
He started the opener in 2018-19, he played every game against the Sharks in the 2019 playoffs and he started the opener against the same Sharks to open 2019-20. In total, he grabbed 179 starts in the Golden Knights first 256 significant games and had it not been for personal reasons for injuries and missing, that number would have been well above 200.
Over the past eight months, four of which saw the NHL season on hiatus, the Golden Knights’ goal-scoring situation has been all but stable.
On January 15, 2020, the Golden Knights made a change to head coach, fired Gerard Gallant and hired Pete DeBoer. This was the beginning of a flurry (pun intended) of change. Hiring DeBoer signaled the end of Goaltending Director Dave Prior’s role of selecting the starting goal award every night.
I choose the goalkeeper. Of course I’m gathering information from Dave when I originally came here and now it’s going to be Mike, but I’ll decide who goes every night. -DeBoer on 2/28/20
A little over a month later, the real fence began. Despite the start of the night for him, a 6-5 win at Anaheim, Malcolm Subban was traded along with a pick in the 2nd round and a look to the Chicago Blackhawks for goaltender Robin Lehner.
If anything ever happened to Marc-Andre Fleury, we were not strong enough to win playoff games when we get to that point. Those are hard decisions, but we felt that way. -Kelly McCrimmon on 2/26/28
A few days later was Prior dismissed placed on administrative leave. The key man in the Golden Knights goal tending was gone, just two days after the team’s blockbuster trade got a goaltender.
I am a big believer that competition at any position is a great motivating tool and that always sends, especially competing people, to new levels. -DeBoer on 2/26/20
The Golden Knights’ first game after the trade date was on February 26, a game they won 3-0 against the Edmonton Oilers, with Fleury in the net.
Flowers (is in net). Easy decision. He’s been playing great lately. It will give Robin some time, but he will get a start soon. -DeBoer on 2/26/20
The next match, two nights later, went to Lehner.
We’re going tonight with the big fella. -DeBoer on 2/28/20
From that moment on, the Golden Knights alternate between Fleury and Lehner.
The idea is to achieve both of your goals at their highest level. Flowers is our starter. We know when he plays his best that he gives our team a really good chance to win. Therefore, it is important that we are placed before him to do so. Robin gives us a luxury in moderation, to add a goalkeeper of his caliber to our team when we already had Marc-Andre Fleury. We felt vulnerable in that place. -McCrimmon on 2/29/20
After beating Lehner, the Golden Knights went 5-2-0, with Lehner winning all three of his starts against Buffalo, New Jersey, and Calgary, and Fleury beat Edmonton twice when he lost to Los Angeles and Winnipeg.
On March 12, the league was forced to stop due to the spread of COVID-19. Players were quarantined in their homes for the next three months without anyone having the opportunity to get on the ice.
Goal tending is a lot like starting pitching. You can not get enough of it, especially come playoffs. I was looking for a situation where we could get Flower some rest and have a healthy growing flower. I also saw a situation where we would use both boys. They both have such different styles. -DeBoer on 4/30/20
On June 8, Phase 2 of the NHL’s Return to Play began releasing the Golden Knights for the first time at City National Arena. Both Fleury and Lehner were among the players who returned immediately.
With two exposition games and with three round-robin games, that will give Pete and coaching staff the opportunity to use those two goals to see how they feel fit. -McCrimmon on 6/13/20
On July 13, Phase 3 began with the launch of a shortened training camp to prepare for the changing playoff format that begins on August 1st. Fleury missed the first three days for what was described as ‘maintenance’
We have two starting goal scorers and we will play them both. -DeBoer on 7/14/20
After the Golden Knights arrived in Edmonton, DeBoer dropped his plans for the first four games in the bubble.
My plan here is that both boys will play through the round-robin. I think I came off a four-month break to make sure we get everyone up to speed and are honest and have all the information at our disposal when we start the playoffs, that’s the right thing to do. They will probably play two and two between the exposition game and the three round-robin games and then we will make some difficult decisions. -DeBoer on 7/28/20
The Golden Knights won all four of those games, raising Lehner’s record with Vegas to a perfect 5-0-0, while Fleury hung on to a 4-2-0 record (one win was an exposition game).
Up to that point there had been a clear rotation and so the Golden Knights had indeed “two starters.” According to DeBoer, the consideration was to move on to the first round.
I think everything is on the table. It’s such a unique year, such a unique format. I’ve already heard that there will be some back-to-backs in the early rounds of the playoffs, which you typically never have for me everything is on that table in that regard. -Pete DeBoer on 8/7/20
On August 11, Robin Lehner was named the starter for the Golden Knights’ first real playoff game, Game 1 against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Obviously a difficult decision if you have two quality goal tenders. It was not what Flower did not do, it’s what Robin has been doing since he’s been here. -DeBoer on 8/11/20
The rotation had officially ended when Lehner played for the first time in consecutive games as a Golden Knight. In fact, he had played in three of the four significant games since the team returned to action. He would make it four out of five in Game 2.
I think I was clear since we started this that we have two starters. How I unleash them will become day by day, based on what I feel gives us the best chance to win a game and win a series. That will not change. I’m sure both boys will play. What that rotation looks like is something we will discuss every day and execute the guys, not only in net, but in our entire lineup, giving us the best chance to win. -DeBoer on 8/13/20
Now, with a few games on back-to-back nights, it’s likely that the Golden Knights will use Lehner in one game and Fleury in the other.
Assuming this is the case, Lehner will have started three games in the playoff series and five of the seven significant games since the team returned to play.
While DeBoer’s words remain politically correct, his actions prove two facts beyond a reasonable doubt.
Marc-Andre Fleury is no longer the Starter of the Golden Knights and the goalkeeper’s position is anything but stable.
