I think Fleury is good enough to get the Penguins to the promised land, but still hasn’t reached his potential. Three key things for me that he can work on:

1. Puck Handling - he’s improved markedly since he first came in, but still has a ways to go in this area.

2. Rebound Control - again, he’s improved, and from game-to-game can have great rebound control, but can still get better. Which leads me to.

3. Consistency - be solid game in and game out. He’s putting together more and more strings of solid games, but still has an off night from time to time. The more consistent he gets, the closer he’ll be to being a top goalie in the league. He’s close.

Posted by penguinsfan on 06/05/09 at 12:23 PM ET

Well, I’m not a goalie, but in talking to the ones on my team and others, Fleury seems like a really interesting case. I think the points made above are right and I would put him at the average/above average level right now. However, that ‘average’ level is made up of stellar starts and abysmal starts, rather than a consistently mediocre performance level.

My feeling is that, like a lot of absolutely top athletes in terms of pure talent, he was able to rely on that pure talent rather than developing a fundamentally sound game. He was probably able to do that in the QMJHL, but, as shooters learned his game in the NHL, it hasn’t been working for him. Making things worse, neither Cape Breton nor the Pens had great goalie coaches (the Pens only making this a priority recently) to help him develop. It seems that often he pulls himself out of position and can make the highlight reel saves at times, but to reach that consistency, he just needs to be in position, square to the shooter and having the puck hit him, rather than having to rely on making the big save. Until that happens, his play and his numbers will be ‘meh’. That’s not a lot for a guy taken first overall in a good draft and being paid $5m a season. If the team could go back in time, I doubt they’d draft him again…

Go Pens!

Posted by catz27 on 06/05/09 at 12:41 PM ET

Agree with everything you said, Catz, except that they wouldn’t draft him again. At least, not because of his performance, maybe because his draft was so deep with other talented players. I don’t think they can regret drafting him until he’s 27-28 and in his prime. If they win the Cup next week, would you still feel this way?

Posted by penguinsfan on 06/05/09 at 12:52 PM ET

I think Fleury is a really good tender but the only thing that follows him is all thru his junior career and into his pro career is that he can’t win the “BIG GAME.” Any thoughts?

Posted by Jeff Smith from Antigonish,Nova Scotia on 06/05/09 at 01:56 PM ET

i agree most with what penguinsfan said -
the talent is unquestionable, but there is still more development to be done in puckhandling, rebounds and overall consistency. that said, he’s shown the ability to win games and come up with the big save at a big time, which might be the most important thing to look for in a franchise goalie.

as for what jeff said, i think he dispelled that by leading his team to 2 straight cup final appearances, and especially with the fact that he was probably the team’s best player in last year’s final, and has been awesome for the past two games here.

i think what happens in the next 2 or 3 games may have a huge impact on how he’s perceived around the league.

Posted by bryan on 06/05/09 at 02:05 PM ET