The Penguins are signing goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to a tryout contract. He will practice once, then play in the team\u2019s exhibition game vs. Columbus on Sept. 27 at PPG Paints Arena. Fleury will retire as a Penguin.<\/p>\n
Unless Fleury does well enough for the Penguins to want him to keep playing.<\/p>\n
All he\u2019s got to do is be better than Tristan Jarry. That\u2019s no monumental task for Fleury, even at 40.<\/p>\n
If that happens, Fleury should say no. (And will. He\u2019s done.)<\/p>\n
The Penguins\u2019 defensive corps might be historically bad. Getting shot full of holes could trigger a mid-life crisis.<\/p>\n
Fleury\u2019s return is a grand gesture, a chance for the fans to celebrate Fleury and vice-versa.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s take a break for cynicism:<\/p>\n
Fleury\u2019s return enables the Penguins to sell out an exhibition game. That\u2019s big for a team that saw attendance decline last season by almost 1,300 per game from the campaign before and will likely see the turnstile count dip again.<\/p>\n
A lower-bowl ticket for the prior night\u2019s exhibition game at PPG Paints Arena costs $86.<\/p>\n
The same ticket to see Fleury costs $378. (That\u2019s the team\u2019s pricing via Ticketmaster. Not marked up on the secondary market.)<\/p>\n
The Penguins will doubtless sell Fleury merchandise specific to the event.<\/p>\n
I hope Fleury isn\u2019t doing this for free.<\/p>\n
Hype for Fleury\u2019s comeback distracts from \u201cSidney Crosby might get traded\u201d talk, and guarantees Crosby won\u2019t be dealt before Fleury plays Sept. 27 and gets a chance to prank Crosby one last time. (That\u2019s the event within the event.)<\/p>\n
There\u2019s an element of irony to all this:<\/p>\n
Fleury was the hero when his save on Nicklas Lidstr\u00f6m at the death won Game 7 at Detroit and the Stanley Cup in 2009.<\/p>\n
But when the Penguins didn\u2019t immediately pile on more Cups, Fleury got blamed by the citizens, not least after a first-round playoff loss to Philadelphia in 2012 that saw him post a goals-against average of 4.63.<\/p>\n
That was followed by a 2013 postseason that saw the Penguins reach the Eastern Conference final but saw Fleury benched for Tomas Vokoun.<\/p>\n
Fleury was scapegoated by social media and talk-show callers. Not by the paying customers. Fleury never got booed at home.<\/p>\n
But Fleury became a popular underdog when Matt Murray took his spot in goal. The love rocketed when Fleury deputized for an injured Murray during part of the 2017 playoffs and played well as the Penguins won a second straight Cup.<\/p>\n
Then Murray stumbled and Fleury led expansion Vegas to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final: \u201cWe should have kept Fleury!\u201d<\/p>\n
Fleury is a great guy and exceptional teammate. That was always evident, whether from afar or up close.<\/p>\n
Make no mistake, Fleury\u2019s return is a great thing.<\/p>\n
But there are sidebars.<\/p>\n
When teams go downhill, they often turn to nostalgia and promotions. The Pirates are a prime example. One of their biggest headlines this season was generated by long lines on Paul Skenes Bobblehead Night.<\/p>\n
Fleury\u2019s return is confirmation of where the Penguins are at.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also the resurrection of the Penguins\u2019 in-house hall of fame, dormant since 2013.<\/p>\n
One game-night promotion honors the 10-year anniversary of the 2016 Stanley Cup winners. Will Phil Kessel return?<\/p>\n
\u201cBig Three\u201d legacy bobbleheads: Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin. (Three games, not one. Thrice as many nailed-on sellouts.)<\/p>\n
Black History rally towel night: To celebrate the rich history of black men who have played for the Penguins, from Darren Lowe to Boko Imama.<\/p>\n
Zamboni Gravy Boat night. No force on earth could keep me away.<\/p>\n
Oven mitt night: Just another glove that Jarry can\u2019t catch with.<\/p>\n
Grateful Dead hockey shirt night. It\u2019s Jan. 17. The Penguins\u2019 playoff chances should be dead by then. If it means a top five draft pick, we should be grateful.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not criticism.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s how losing teams sell tickets.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s transparent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Penguins are signing goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to a tryout contract. He will practice once, then play in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-161240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}