Hey, any time you can lock up a goalie with a career W/L record of 111-109, a GAA of 2.87 and save percentage of .908 to a 7 year, 35 million dollar contract, you have to do it.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 09/03/09 at 07:32 AM ET

the kid is money in the playoffs, as you sure do know.  how was it watching him make save after save in games 6 and 7?

Posted by seriously? on 09/03/09 at 07:46 AM ET

Well, MAF has one more Stanley Cup than Luongo…

Posted by NHLJeff from Pens fan in Chicago, IL on 09/03/09 at 07:48 AM ET

Fleury’s performances in both game 7’s this year (Wash/Det) is worth every cent of that $5 Mil.  Still a young goaltender with room to improve.  I wasn’t sure about this contract when he first signed it, but if the cap continues to stay close to where it is or increase it is a good deal for both sides.

Posted by Russian Rocket on 09/03/09 at 08:21 AM ET

the kid is money in the playoffs, as you sure do know.  how was it watching him make save after save in games 6 and 7?

It won’t seem like such a value a year from now if he has a bad year this coming season (which often happens with young goalies after big playoff runs)... especially now with tying money into Malkin, Crosby, and Staal.

Posted by Primis on 09/03/09 at 09:15 AM ET

which often happens with young goalies after big playoff runs

except what did he do the year after his first big playoff run?  they got back there and won.  he’s not a perfect goalie, but i’ll take him over almost any other goalie in the league.  he’s lightning quick and makes saves no one else can make.  could he fall next year?  ya, but it doesn’t matter.  he’s won a Cup, which a lot of people said he would never win.  he is a big time, money goalie.  you could say the same about osgood as well

Posted by but... on 09/03/09 at 10:56 AM ET

Well, MAF has one more Stanley Cup than Luongo…

Hell, even without counting the Stanley Cup, he’s got 5 more playoff series wins in half as many years.  And I’m not even a Fleury fan.

Roberto Luongo: most overrated goaltender in the NHL.

Posted by Garth on 09/03/09 at 11:25 AM ET

the kid is money in the playoffs, as you sure do know

If there’s one position the Pens never have to worry about, it’s obviously goaltending.  When you have a guy who can toss a 3.01 gaa and a .878 save percentage in a playoff round, you rest your head on a pillow and sleep deeply.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 09/03/09 at 11:25 AM ET

When you have a guy who can toss a 3.01 gaa and a .878 save percentage in a playoff round

man, it must suck when your team loses to that bad of a goalie then, doesn’t it?

Posted by haha on 09/03/09 at 11:41 AM ET

HockeyinHD - does HD stand for “His Dreams”??? Maybe you just woke up, but the Wings lost…

i dont even have to know you as a WIngs fan, but you can tell by your bitterness that you’d fit right in with them.

Keep trashing Fleury all you want, but i think you’ve got to admit he is just as much the reason they won the cup as anyone else on the team…
The save on Carter in the Quarter finals….
The save on OV in game 7 on the Breakaway…
The save on Cleary in Game 6 when up 2-1 with 2 mins left…
Or any of the saves in Game 7 in Detroit.

Posted by Greg on 09/03/09 at 11:48 AM ET

man, it must suck when your team loses to that bad of a goalie then, doesn’t it?

It always sucks when you lose.  The secret is to not make losing into an art form by being the worst team in the NHL for two or three years.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 09/03/09 at 12:11 PM ET

Keep trashing Fleury all you want, but i think you’ve got to admit he is just as much the reason they won the cup as anyone else on the team…

No, actually, I don’t have to admit that.  How many Conn Smythe votes did he get, again?

Posted by HockeyinHD on 09/03/09 at 12:12 PM ET

Hey, any time you can lock up a goalie with a career W/L record of 111-109, a GAA of 2.87 and save percentage of .908 to a 7 year, 35 million dollar contract, you have to do it.

No, any time you can lock up a 24 year old goalie with a 31-18 playoff record, post-season GAA of 2.45 and save percentage of .916 and a Stanley Cup ring to a 7 year, 35 million dollar contract, you have to do it.

Posted by Kstewy16 on 09/03/09 at 12:29 PM ET

No, any time you can lock up a 24 year old goalie with a 31-18 playoff record, post-season GAA of 2.45 and save percentage of .916 and a Stanley Cup ring to a 7 year, 35 million dollar contract, you have to do it.

You quote those stats like they’re even that great.  2.45 and a .916 is middle of the road most playoffs. Chris Mason had a 2.34 and a .916 this past year and his team didn’t win a game.

Should he get a 7 year 35 million dollar deal, too?

Posted by HockeyinHD on 09/03/09 at 01:01 PM ET

man, it must suck when your team loses to that bad of a goalie then, doesn’t it?

Boy it must have SUCKED for Pens fans to lose to Chris Osgood two years ago then…

The save on Carter in the Quarter finals….
The save on OV in game 7 on the Breakaway…
The save on Cleary in Game 6 when up 2-1 with 2 mins left…
Or any of the saves in Game 7 in Detroit.

...tripping over the edge and falling on his way out of the tunnel two playoffs ago…
...losing that same playoff series to the guy who was supposedly so much worse of a goalie…
... his complete inability to compete at the NHL level several years ago even though everyone was saying he should have been able to consistently…

It’s completely amazing to me how short fans’ memory spans can be.

And especially GOALIES come and go all the time.  Some of them even win a Vezina and then disappear into Mike Tyson’s Bolivion…  or, look at what it took for Cam Ward to even get back to the playoffs after winning a Cup.

I’ll reserve my judgement on MAF As God until he’s actually, you know, accomplished something… until then I don’t see the signing as anything special.  He very well could be an anchor around their necks the next 4 seasons or so…

Posted by Primis on 09/03/09 at 01:16 PM ET

his complete inability to compete at the NHL level several years ago even though everyone was saying he should have been able to consistently

when was this?  his first year in the NHL, when the pens were in complete and utter disarray?

he’s actually, you know, accomplished something

what do you want him to accomplish?  you are basically using the same argument that most teams make against osgood, that he’s a product of the system and would not be as good anywhere else. 

He very well could be an anchor around their necks the next 4 seasons or so…

he also could very well help them win multiple Cups in that span too, but it may just wind up being somewhere in between. 

what about osgood?  what happens if he, as he said last year, can’t find the fire to play those tuesday night games against the wild in november?  what happens if jimmy howard falters and can’t play like conklin did?

Posted by cw on 09/03/09 at 01:30 PM ET

No, any time you can lock up a 24 year old goalie with a 31-18 playoff record, post-season GAA of 2.45 and save percentage of .916 and a Stanley Cup ring to a 7 year, 35 million dollar contract, you have to do it.

Ok, but they signed him BEFORE he had those stats and before he had a ring…

Posted by Garth on 09/03/09 at 01:56 PM ET

what about osgood?  what happens if he, as he said last year, can’t find the fire to play those tuesday night games against the wild in november?

I don’t know, I guess if it’s like last year then they finish second in the west, make the conference champrionships for the fourth year in a row, make the finals for the third year in a row and come within a game of winning the Stanley Cup?

Sure, I’d love to win the Cup every year, but that would hardly be a poor result, would it?

Posted by Garth on 09/03/09 at 01:58 PM ET

how did Osgood do with the Blues and Isles?  Compared to Fleury’s contributions to the penguins, Osgood could be and is, considered nothing more than an average goalie.  Forget stats and dont preach systems, they’re just as good with Ty Conklin, Hasek or hopefully for you guys Jimmy Howard…

The wings have never won a cup based on Osgood’s play…

Posted by Greg on 09/03/09 at 02:38 PM ET

how did Osgood do with the Blues and Isles? 

Osgood’s numbers with the Islanders & Blues are pretty consistent with his numbers in Detroit.

Detoit         305-137-69,  2.46 g.a.a.
New York     49-39-10,    2.65 g.a.a.
St.Louis       35-28-10,    2.36 g.a.a.
                             
I was surprised when I seen them. I didn’t think they would be anywhere near as good as in Detroit. Considering the difference in the organ-I-zations.
He may well be one of the most underrated players in NHL history.

I still think that Fleury is worth $5m per season.

Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 09/03/09 at 03:49 PM ET

The wings have never won a cup based on Osgood’s play…

And the Pens have never won a Cup based on Fleury’s play.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 09/03/09 at 03:58 PM ET

Goaltenders come out of nowhere and vanish into the same nowhere all the time.  Who would have predicted that Giguere would have fallen so quickly and Hiller risen before this year?  Not many people saw Harding coming, either - or Varlamov for that matter.

Fleury might continue to play as well as he has in the last couple years or even improve - or he might fall off the map next year, play like frozen dog poop on ice, and be nearly out of the league and struggling for a backup position in another two or three years.  There’s no way to tell, really.

Goaltenders remind me of pitchers (ESPECIALLY closers).  They are such a high risk, and those who are consistently good (not even excellent, just good) are so rare - every team would love to have a Mariano Rivera, but he is one of a kind.  Every team would love to have a goaltender who is consistently excellent from one year to the next, but the only way to really tell is to wait until he has established himself in a career - and then he’s nearer to the end than the beginning.

Osgood is a very good goalie, but he looks about 12 years old and doesn’t have the same swagger that Patrick Roy always had (win or lose), and when he has had really bad moments they have been REALLY bad and thus memorable.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 09/03/09 at 05:51 PM ET