By Last night I was present at the Golden Knights hockey game played at the T-Mobile Arena right here in Las Vegas on the Strip. They played against the New York Islanders in front of an enthusiastic crowd. The fans here are the best, everyone has a jersey with the name of their favorite player embroidered across the back. One of the most popular was and seems to be still is Fleury. In Vegas the fans wonder why the front office traded their marketing guru for the city and the team, Marc Andre’ Fleury to Chicago, it didn’t make sense and quite honestly still doesn’t.
Was it that he was older and they wanted a younger goalie, or he was unable to help them win a Stanley Cup after 4 years being so close or was it strictly his salary that caused Fleury to head to Chicago to wear a Blackhawks jersey? We believe it wasn’t that he couldn’t win, last year he was 26-10 with the Knights. Actually Fleury had three great seasons with the Knights winning 29 games his first year with 13 loses, winning 27 games in his third year with 16 loses and of course last year as stated previously winning 26 games with 10 loses. The second year was his worst with Vegas with 35 wins and 21 loses. The fans loved seeing Fleury in front of the next making spectacular save after spectacular save. In 2018 after his arrival in Vegas as a Golden Knight his jersey sales were ranked number 3 in all of NHL sales. his jersey was everywhere in Vegas. So why is he gone! The front office’s bought a full page ad to thank the man who made a contribution to the team like no other. In a statement from the Knights office they mentioned many attributes of one of the greatest players both on and off the field expressing how infectious Marc was to those in and around our community with this, “But you know what’s even more impressive? The contributions you made to our community off the ice. Those were equally — if not more — impressive than your contributions on it. You were there during our city’s darkest time. You gave hope when it was needed most. You gave us reasons to cheer. You helped us persevere. You and your family continually found ways to give back and make our home a better place.”
Since his departure the Vegas Golden Knights are roughing it out. As a team they are 1-4 at the bottom of division for the first time in team history. They are playing subpart based on what we witnessed over the past 4 years. The team last knight couldn’t score although they had over 30 shots on goal. At times they were simply messy in their passing as well as their defense. So many great opportunities to score, they just couldn’t find the back of the net this night. The thought has entered my mind, will this be the first year they don’t make it to the playoffs. Disappointing as it was they are still the Golden Knights right here, right now and we love them as they compete each game with hopes of winning not only for the team but for Vegas as well.
In Vegas the fans wonder why the front office traded their marketing guru for the city and the team, Marc Andre’ Fleury to Chicago, it didn’t make sense and quite honestly still doesn’t.”
In his first interview with the Chicago Blackhawks Marc stated the trade was ” little surprising” to say the least. He didn’t go into great detail on the trade but emphasized he was excited to be in Chicago to help their team now. The front office general manager Kelly McCrimmon stated Fleury was traded because he was after salary cap relief. A huge mistake on his part as this city expresses their love for Fleury. As a citizen of Clark County Marc made his mark here. With his soft spoken demeanor and huge heart Marc Andre’ Fleury became a younger Mr. Las Vegas only preceded by Mr. Wayne Newton who coincidently appears on screen during the games with many other celebrity types hyping Vegas and the Golden Knights. We will see just what will happen in the not to distant future as Mr. Fleury is 36 years old and only has a limited number of years left on the ice. When and where will he retire is the question now. Vegas missed this opportunity to have Marc Andre’ Fleury retire a Golden Knight and be in this wonderful community as the new “Mr. Las Vegas”.
We wish Mr. Fleury all the happiness and luck in his time on the ice whether he is in a Chicago jersey or maybe as one of my business partners stated recently as we were discussing this article, “I think he’ll retire in a Pittsburg uniform”. E.K. went on, “They will sign him just so he can retire with the Penguins and have that Stanley Cup win acknowledged as it should be.”
