Despite a near unanimous roasting of the Pittsburgh Penguins decision to re-sign goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, I am going to have to say it's a good move.
I mean, you would have thought the Penguins doubled his salary and gave him part ownership in the team with the way the reactions went down yesterday. It was kind of ridiculous, if you want my honest opinion.
Consider this: the Penguins retained their top goalie, a player they know better than anyone else does, a player who - if we remember back to HBO's 24/7 - is Sidney Crosby's closes teammate and a crucial component of the team dynamic, who has won them a Stanley Cup and all it cost them was a raise of 750 K.
Seriously, his cap hit is going up by an insignificant amount of money and they will retain his services until the age of 34, not an overtly aged number by goalie standards.
In doing so, they maintain a sense of normalcy on their team, they keep it being a team and not a collection of individuals - the same group of guys who won in 2009 will have the opportunity to play together for most of their careers and try to do it again.
In an age where athletes are often mercenaries, I think this is pretty cool. It's even a little romantic, in that it's directly opposite the way sports usually work in 2014.
But then there is the stats. The rep of playoff meltdowns. The....well you know what everyone is saying.
Here's what I say: considering the ability of anyone to forecast the position of goalie, it is better to go with the guy you know and the guy who makes your team a team, rather than risk upsetting whatever intangible balance there is in your locker-room to replace him with a guy who might not even be better.
As I pointed out when this went HOTSTOVE, virtually every good goalie in the NHL who would be a fair bet to replace him is locked up through eternity.
I have looked over the stats, and they paint Fleury as an average goalie. Well, his cap hit puts him as the 13th highest paid goalie, which is average. Also, stats aren't that predictive of goalies, we know any goalie can get hot at any time.
What about the playoffs? High Profile events. They seem more important, but they don't really tell the whole story - Playoff Performance is Confirmation Bias in Action.
The only good argument I have seen comes from HockeyBuzz's own Ryan Wilson, who said that you could get better value on the 5.75 Million. I agree, you could. But only for a year. Or Two. Sure, you could throw Thomas Greiss into the crease and make him your number one goalie and he'd probably do just as well. But here's the thing: if he plays good enough to approximate MAF, then at the end of this season when his contract is up, you have to pay him around 4 or so million which is the bare-minimum for starting goalies in the NHL.
So, to save a few bucks for a short time, is it worth upsetting Crosby? Breaking up the dynamic of the team? I don't think it is.
Then there is loyalty. The fact that the Pens have shown a degree of loyalty to their former #1 overall pick and the guy who won them the Cup is worth something. It will have a trickle down effect in their room, and for their team in the future. Not only that, but it's a decent thing to do.
Maybe we're just too frigging cynical. MAF is a good dude. The team did right by him. He got a paltry raise and now everyone is happy.
Oh, and the team is in 3rd place overall in the NHL and remains a Stanley Cup favorite. Those playoff breakdowns? Let's not forget that it's been a while since Malkin, Crosby and Letang were all healthy for the same playoff series. Also, it's unfair to solely blame Fleury for those so called playoff meltdowns - when the pressure is as high as it is, you change goalies because that's really one of like 4 moves a coach has at that point in the season.
Also, the fact is, the defense was not great, it's not like he's lining up behind the 1996 Devils and just blowing it. I think he gets too much blame for whats been a team problem.
Bottom line: they keep the band together and the Cap will likely go up significantly more than the raise they just gave their franchise goalie. I just don't think it's that bad a move.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to call me horrendous names in the comments.
This has been a Mom's Basement Production and if you need me, I'll be watching Prince rock out on SNL for the tenth time.