Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports
Pittsburgh Penguins fans can finally take a deep breath. Executive vice president and general manager, Jim Rutherford, has announced that their goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury has been extended to another contract of four years with an average annual value of $5.75 million. Overall, it comes out to a whopping $23 million.
The deal runs from the 2015-2016 season and goes to the 2018-2019 season. It really is a big contract, but if Fleury keeps playing the way he has been with the team seeing a playoff season, another Stanley Cup victory may not be too far out of sight.
With 295 franchise record wins, 31 career shutouts, and one Stanley Cup, Fleury has made it obvious having little to no problems helping his team sweep its way to the playoffs. Rutherford must believe that Fleury is still the answer to winning another Stanley Cup or else he may have started going with younger talent, like many other teams have.
The last time the Pens won a Stanley Cup was in 2009 which does not seem like that long ago but it really is. The thing that sets him apart is that he is on a team with some of the league’s biggest names like Sidney Crosby and Evengi Malkin. These keys players and Fleury’s extension may make that much of a difference this year for the Pens.
Fleury has gotten off to a great start this year with just 11 games in. Just in the Pens’ season opener, he managed to keep the puck out of reach for the dominating Anaheim Ducks. At the rate that he is going, another playoff season almost goes without saying.
