Au Revoir, Marc-André Fleury; The Pleasure Was Ours 

On Thursday night, the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Minnesota Wild, ending their dreams of chasing the Stanley Cup. For the Golden Knights, the ride isn’t over yet– next is a Round 2 matchup with the mighty Edmonton Oilers. And we’ll get to that. But first, we must take time to honor a legend. The Golden Knights didn’t just eliminate the Wild from the Stanley Cup Playoffs– they also ended the career of future Hall of Fame goaltender Marc-André Fleury.

Following the conclusion of Game 6, Fleury went through the handshake line one final time. Just five players remain from that original 2017-18 Golden Knights roster, but a casual observer wouldn’t have known that. The handshake line is the ultimate sign of respect, but when it came to Fleury, it clearly meant a little more. After exiting the handshake line, the Golden Knights players and staff stayed on the ice, tapping their sticks and applauding as Fleury bid farewell to the Wild faithful one final time.

Fleury, an original Golden Misfit, came to Vegas during the summer of 2017. Eager to shed his $5.75 million salary cap hit, Fleury’s former team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, sent the Golden Knights a second-round draft pick to take the three-time Stanley Cup Champion off of their hands. There was a little more to it than that– the Penguins had two goaltenders, and they chose the younger one– but that didn’t matter to the Golden Knights. Thus, they selected him in the Expansion Draft. 

Fleury, nicknamed “Flower,” quickly endeared himself to fans and teammates alike with his creative style of play and infectious personality. From his first start to his Vezina campaign, he will go down as one of the best Golden Knights of all time. Let’s take a look back at the most memorable moments of Fleury’s Golden Knights tenure.

A Star From the Start

“Hockey doesn’t belong in the desert.” 

“Hockey can’t survive in the desert.”

“A hockey team in Vegas? That’ll never work.”

When Gary Bettman granted Las Vegas an NHL franchise, the doubters far outnumbered the believers. The locals embraced the team before there was a single player on the roster, of course. But the naysayers’ voices echoed the loudest.

They were wrong. 

Right from the start, the Golden Knights proved the doubters wrong. They won their first three games and eight of their first nine. They began writing history in their first-ever game, with a 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars on the road. James Neal scored twice, but the real hero of the game was Marc-André Fleury. Flower stopped 45 of the 46 shots he faced and saved 2.8 goals above expected.

For new Golden Knights fans, however, this was more than just a sporting event– it was a way to band together as a community after a terrible tragedy. The Vegas locals needed a distraction, and Fleury provided that in spades. He dove to and fro in his crease, flashing the leather and lunging to make artistic saves. 

From day one, Fleury captured the hearts of fans, and he never gave them back.

The 2018 Run to the Stanley Cup Finals

To further accentuate that hockey does, in fact, belong in the desert, the Golden Knights won the Pacific Division and qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in their first season. But the party was just getting started.

In Round 1, the Golden Knights swept the Los Angeles Kings when Marc-André Fleury out-dueled fellow future Hall of Fame goaltender Jonathan Quick. Quick recorded a save percentage of .947; Fleury responded with an average save percentage of .977, two shutouts, and allowed just three goals in four games. 

In Round 2, the Golden Knights knocked off the scrappy San Jose Sharks in six games. Fleury recorded shutouts in Game 1 and Game 6 to bookend the series. 

The Golden Knights squared off against the high-powered Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference Finals. They were slight favorites, but no one expected them to thrash the Jets the way they did. The Golden Knights pulled off a gentleman’s sweep, and Fleury recorded an average save percentage of .938 through five games.

In the Stanley Cup Finals, Fleury’s Golden Knights ran into a Washington Capitals team on a mission from God. The Capitals won in five games, but the sting of losing in the Finals did little to dull the jubilation of a first season far more successful than anyone could have dreamed. Fleury ended the postseason with a record of 13-7, an average save percentage of .927, and four shutouts. 

Winning the Vezina

From his first game to his last, Marc-André Fleury was a special goalie. Early in his career, he won the Stanley Cup– something some players never do. But in the era of Tim Thomas, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Henrik Lundqvist, one prize eluded Fleury: the coveted Vezina Trophy. 

And then, it happened. At age 36, Fleury became the oldest goaltender in the salary cap era to win the Vezina Trophy. He’d never even been a finalist, but that didn’t matter anymore. 

Due to the global pandemic, the 2020-21 NHL season was an odd one. Teams played just 56 games during the shortened season, and Fleury started 36 of those for the Golden Knights. He finished the season with an average save percentage of .928, a 1.98 GAA, and six shutouts.

I’m sure Fleury would have preferred to accept his first and only Vezina Trophy at a typical NHL Awards show; unfortunately, it, like everything else that year, was held over Zoom. He also took home the William M. Jennings Award, given to the goaltender for the team who allows the fewest goals against.

Golden Knights vs Wild Game 5: Fleury’s Final Stand

Fleury didn’t play in Game 6 or start a single game during the 2024-25 postseason. He did, however, make a relief appearance in Game 5 when Filip Gustavsson exited the contest early with an illness. 

There are two reasons why this is so significant. For one, it marked his 18th postseason appearance, surpassing Martin Brodeur’s 17. But perhaps most significant is that Fleury’s final NHL action was in T-Mobile Arena, the place he helped put on the map. 

In a way, it feels fitting that the Golden Knights were the team to end Fleury’s NHL career. After all, they were the team who gave Fleury a new home after the team he’d spent his entire career with moved on from him. The Penguins were Fleury’s first team, but Fleury was the Golden Knights’ first goaltender.

Fleury gave the Golden Knights everything he had, and the fans loved him for it. Still love him, in fact, if the cheers during Game 5 are anything to go off of. It may not have been a storybook ending, and he might not retire as a Golden Knight, but Fleury will forever be a crucial part of this franchise’s history.

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