Daily Nuggets: Fleury Drops Hints at Future; It’s ‘Go-Time’ For Canucks

And down the stretch they come. After a near-perfect four-game road trip through the Central Division, the Vegas Golden Knights are sitting pretty in third place in the Pacific Division. The Golden Knights rivals are gearing up to take them down. Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet threw down the gauntlet for his team. The Edmonton Oilers and Connor McDavid are getting red hot, while Nathan MacKinnon holds a slim lead in the scoring race. And Marc-Andre Fleury is finding joy in hockey again. He dropped some hints about his future.

Let’s dive right in today…

For the newbies here, the Daily Nuggets are the links to the best stories around hockey. Instead of re-writing others’ work, we will link you to the original source so the journalists get the credit.

NHL.com/FR: It sure seemed like Marc-Andre Fleury was headed toward retirement. His mates in Pittsburgh even presented him with a painting and a private reception in anticipation of facing him for the last time. However, it may not be the last time that fans here and everywhere get to see the Flower. He dropped some hints about his future.

Sportsnet: The race for the Art Ross Trophy is heating up. Nathan MacKinnon. Connor McDavid. The boys are filling the net and dropping jaws in the process. Who gets the title?

The Score: Rick Tocchet has been the guiding hand for the Vancouver Canucks turnaround from a talented but sloppy team out of the playoffs to the top of the Western Conference. The coach says now it’s “go time” for his Canucks.

Colorado Hockey Now: Russia always complicates things with underhanded dealings and shady practices. After months of ignoring a ruling, the KHL finally relented to the IIHF ruling and released Ivan Fedotov to the Philadelphia Flyers, but in return, now they’re courting a Colorado Avalanche goalie.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: So so so many blown leads. One of the more talented teams in the NHL will probably miss the playoffs, and they blew a two-goal lead to the hapless Columbus Blue Jackets. The Blue Jackets?! And this is why the Pittsburgh Penguins can’t have nice things.

Detroit Hockey Now: Coach Derek Lalonde’s seat is getting warm as the Red Wings are slipping out of the playoff seeds. Will Steve Yzerman make a change behind the bench for the Detroit Red Wings?

****Also, sources around the National Hockey Now network are chattering. It’s been a minute since we’ve broken a national story, largely because we’ve passed on a couple because of their legal implications. However, there is growing talk that Fleury will indeed play next season and has hired a realtor to begin the housing search … IN LAS VEGAS.

Perhaps one day No. 29 will hang in the rafters at T-Mobile, or it may be on the ice sooner than later in a Golden Knights sweater?

Now, teams cannot talk to players until July 1. Still, signals can be sent, publicly and privately, and it seems the Flower is signaling his willingness to bury the hatchet with the organization and come back as a 1A goalie.

Also, April Fools! Sorry.