Marc-Andre Fleury returns to Pittsburgh one final time

Mike Lange, as he always did during his career as the voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins, captured it perfectly.

When goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made his NHL debut on Oct. 10, 2003, he got a standing ovation during a 3-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at the Mellon Arena.

That reaction came late in the contest after he poke checked the puck away from Los Angeles Kings forward Esa Pirnes on a penalty shot attempt.

Lange detailed the moment in perfect fashion.

21 years ago tonight:pic.twitter.com/9K99GPv33L

— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) October 10, 2024

“He’s found a home in the city of Pittsburgh,” Lange said, calling the game for the former Fox Sports Pittsburgh. “Marc-Andre Fleury. He’s the hero of the night, and they’re losing, two-nothing. No question about it! You can feel it. You can see it!”

More than two decades later, Pittsburgh will get its presumed final chance to see the player who helped usher in the greatest era in franchise history.

On Tuesday, Fleury, now a member of the Minnesota Wild, is expected to suit up for what will presumably be his final game in the city he initially invigorated 21 years ago.

Fleury has indicated the 2024-25 campaign will be his last in the NHL and barring a trade or a seemingly unlikely encounter between the Penguins and Wild in the Stanley Cup Final, he will not make any return visits as an active player.

A quick glimpse of Fleury’s base statistics will verify he is the greatest goaltender in franchise history. He holds most of the Penguins’ career marks including games (691), wins (375) and shutouts (44).

But those tabulations don’t offer a thorough enough explanation of what Fleury, the top overall pick in the 2003 NHL Draft, meant to a franchise he helped lead to three Stanley Cup championships (2009, 2016 and 2017).

Recently, a number of Fleury’s teammates in Pittsburgh offered what the “Flower” meant to them.

Early impressions

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The Penguins selected goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury with the first overall selection in the 2003 NHL Draft.

From the start of his time with the Penguins, Fleury’s affable nature, arguably his most prominent trait, was apparent.

As a rookie in 2003-04, he wasn’t shy about having fun at the expense of established NHLers.

“His first year, he was roommates with (defenseman) Marc Bergevin,” former Penguins defenseman Dick Tarnstrom said. “He bought an electric (fake) book and put it on its side. He said, ‘Read this page.’ As soon as (Bergevin) touched it, there was an electric shock. He did that to a veteran guy. It was so funny. Eighteen years old and he did that. That’s confidence.”

Given the Penguins’ financial constraints at that time, Fleury only played a few games in the NHL in 2003-04 and spent the bulk of the season at the junior level. And with the NHL’s lockout wiping out the entire 2004-05 season, he played that entire campaign in the American Hockey League with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

He wasn’t afraid to be himself as a 19-year-old.

“When we were still (with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) … he came dressed as Catwoman one time to a team party,” said defenseman Rob Scuderi. “We had this room reserved (at a restaurant). It was a great costume. At a certain point, the reservation fades and the room becomes just general use. At one point, we had to tell him to take the mask off because he didn’t have a bad figure for Catwoman. At one point, we were like, ‘Hey, Marc, I think you’ve got to take the mask off. You’ve got some suitors lining up.’”

Leading the way

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Penguins forward Sidney Crosby talks with goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury a game against the Toronto Maple Leafsat the Mellon Arena on Dec. 27, 2005.

While much of the Penguins’ success over the past two decades if often affixed to star forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang, Fleury was the first component of that foundation, arriving in Pittsburgh a handful of years before each of them.

As such, he took on the responsibility of welcoming them to their new surroundings while sharing a common level of expectations.

“It was huge,” said Crosby, the first overall pick in the 2005 NHL Draft. “I had met him before. We had played together (for Canada in IIHF World Junior Championship tournaments) and stuff like that. (Had) that relationship a little bit and just seeing how he handled everything – he had the pressure – but the way he handled it. He was a guy that loved coming to the rink. He worked really hard. He wanted to be the guy but in a really healthy way. … Really wanting that responsibility, being excited about the team and all the guys that were a part of it.

“That was huge when you come in and you feel that right away. That’s so important right off the start.”

Like Fleury, Letang (a third-round pick in 2005) is a native of Quebec. As a stranger in a strange land, Letang was guided by Fleury on and off the ice.

“Obviously, he helped me,” said Letang, a six-time All-Star. “There was a couple of training camps that I stayed at his house to learn how to be a pro and how to navigate unfamiliar waters. It was really helpful for me, especially as a young guy.”

Another Quebecois who was key in the rise of the Penguins during the 2000s was forward Max Talbot, an eighth-round pick in 2002. Talbot, who scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal during the 2009 final against the Detroit Red Wings, had a particularly affectionate kinship with Fleury.

“I was always kind of close to him (before joining the Penguins),” Talbot said. “But when we got to (Pittsburgh) together, we did all those things, superstitious things before we got on the ice. It was always super fun because he approached it kind of the same way I did. We would prepare in a way where we were going to have fun playing hockey in practices and in games and (with) crazy stuff we would say to each other before we get on the ice.

“It was all about having fun and being grateful to be a hockey player. And having fun off the ice also by doing pranks and stupid stuff and laughing. We really hit it off and never looked back.”

Pranked

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Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury catches a beach ball while parading on the Boulevard of the Allies while celebrating the Stanley Cup championship, June 15, 2009.

The stories of Fleury’s penchant for pranking teammates are well chronicled. He often bound gear together into a cocoon of tape or logged bubble gum into the deepest reaches of hockey gloves.

Perhaps his most notable prank was documented in 2010 on the HBO series “24/7” where he orchestrated the removal of all the furniture from the hotel room of forward Mark Letestu and Ben Lovejoy into a hallway.

“We never responded. We never did anything,” Lovejoy said. “You want to stay out of that guy’s crosshairs. You will never win when you go against Marc-Andre Fleury.”

Fleury’s commitment to pranks was thorough.

“Team dinners, he would go back for a pregame meal and sit underneath the table just to shoe-check someone (putting food on their shoes) for 45 minutes,” defenseman Deryk Engelland said. “He would stay under there until everyone left so no one busted him. The pranks he pulled, he would go all in for it. Everyone would figure it was him but no one could prove it was him because he was so dedicated to pulling off his pranks without anyone knowing.”

Automobiles were often the focus of pranks.

“With (defenseman) Jay McKee, he had (a) nice Jeep and he would come to Mellon Arena all the time with it,” Talbot said. “One day, (Fleury) filled up his Jeep with popcorn through the roof. That was one of the best things ever, having a small jeep with the (top) open and was full of popcorn.”

Teamwork

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Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury recovers after making a save against the Ottawa Senators during a game at the Mellon Arena on Dec. 23, 2009.

While Fleury was not always a nice teammate, he was by all accounts the ultimate teammate.

In the early 2010s, the Penguins, under coach Dan Bylsma, held shootout competitions after seemingly every practice session. At the end of a month, those competitions were labeled as “Mustache Boy” as the loser – the player who was last to score – would have to sport a mustache for the next month.

“’Mustache Boy,’ I’m sure would have been really fun had I been a shootout guy,” Lovejoy said. “‘Mustache Boy’ was super stressful for a couple of guys that had no chance of ever taking a shootout in their life. Every month, there would be a couple of us just so nervous. It would ruin our practice. It was not something that I was good at. It’s not something the Penguins or Dan Bylsma would ever need me to do. But that didn’t matter. We did it anyway.

“We would go down and take our shot, make our move and very rarely would any of us have a chance at scoring. Marc-Andre knew this, knew how stressed we were and he took care of his defensive defensemen. As it got down to crunch time, he would go down for his diving poke check and he’d end up in the corner and let us gracefully bow out without a mustache for the month. At the time, he was one of the very, very best shootout goaltenders in the game.

“He was incredible, he was the best. We knew once we got to the shootout, we had a super advantage because we had Marc-Andre Fleury. And he took care of his defensive defenseman because he appreciated what we did in front of him. It was always things like that with Marc. This guy is a superstar and he was always noticing what the fifth, sixth, seventh defenseman was doing and how he could make my life easier and my life better.”

Still serious

Chaz Palla | Trib Live

Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury sports a Steelers-themed facemask during a practice session at Consol Energy Center on Feb. 26, 2014.

During his career with the Penguins, Fleury encountered a handful of inflection points that in some way altered his trajectory.

The first came during the 2007-08 season when he suffered a high-ankle sprain that cost him 27 games.

“He was hurt for a while and I thought when he came back, he was just a little bit different,” Scuderi said. “He never lost the joy and the energy that he brought to the room. But I thought his mentality changed a little bit. Maybe being out and having to watch it, whatever happened, I thought he was a little bit different. We went on to the (Stanley Cup Final) that year and won the next year. It’s not shocking that he’s gone on to play 20 years because he when your mentality meets your ability – especially for someone with the ability that he had – the sky is the limit.”

Another crossroads came in 2012 when he was diced up in a first-round playoff series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. That carried over to the 2013 postseason when he was replaced by Tomas Vokoun as the starting goaltender. Mike Bales was hired as the goaltending coach and helped Fleury regain his All-Star form.

“If you recall, there was that stretch probably around (2013) where things weren’t going good for him,” Rupp said. “From talking to people, I think he changed and tweaked some things. He’s always Marc-Andre Fleury. He’s always going to smile. But I think the approach was a little bit different. It helped him.”

Perhaps his most difficult moment with the Penguins came when they let him go to the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2017 expansion draft.

With Matt Murray supplanting him as the Penguins’ top goaltender, Fleury went off to the desert and helped steer that franchise to a Stanley Cup Final appearance in its first season.

“At first, it was a little unsure,” said Engelland, also a charter member of the Golden Knights. “But as he got in here in the city and (saw) his welcome at the expansion draft (with) the cheers and stuff, that lightened the load a little bit. I don’t think anyone expected us to win so many games.

“Without him, we wouldn’t have had the year we had.”

Always fun

Christopher Horner | TribLive

Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury carries the Stanley Cup as he exits the Pirates’ dugout during a visit to before a game against the Colorado Rockies on June 13, 2017.

At 39, Fleury barely has any detectable gray hairs or wrinkles and that is despite playing what might be the most stressful position in all of sports.

His carefree nature is his default mode.

“I remember doing (batting practice) at PNC Park,” Rupp said. “A lot of hockey players I feel like don’t play other sports. I don’t know if ‘Flower’ did or not, but it didn’t look like he played baseball. We’re taking (batting practice) and we’re taking some rips. Guys are hitting the ball hard. ‘Flower’ is standing at second base. Everybody else is shagging balls in the outfield. He’s standing in the infield. The balls are coming hot. He’s standing backwards with his back to the plate looking to the guys in the outfield. Balls are zipping buy. He’s doing cartwheels. I’m like, ‘Dude, you’re going to get killed. What are you doing?’

“He just had no worries, no worries in the world. It kept him young.”

“He always found a way to bring joy to the game,” Scuderi said. “He’s one of those guys, you’re not ever sure if he had a bad day. Most likely, he did, just like everybody else. But he certainly always bounced back with a good attitude. For the position, it must have been a huge attribute. If there’s any position where you can get down on yourself, it would be goaltender. For him to learn from something but also turn the page at the same time, must have been a tremendous attribute for the position he played.”

Fleury even spreads that fun outside the rink.

“In Montreal, in August before he leaves to Minnesota, for two weeks, he rents this ice and we shoot on him, a couple of ex-players and friends,” Talbot said. “He does that in public arenas. He practices for two hours on the ice. And there’s often like 40, 50 kids just waiting for him to get autographs. He just smiles and just goes through all of them every time. He stays there for an extra 30 minutes with his pads on and signs (for) every single kid that goes to see him.

“He’s really a special individual and I’m very proud to call him my friend.”