Friedman: Fleury May Not Be Comfortable With Idea Of Capitals Trade

With the goaltending situation still in flux, the Washington Capitals are reportedly interesting in acquiring Marc-Andre Fleury. However, according to a new report, the 37-year-old veteran may not be completely on board with that idea.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman appeared on The Jeff Marek Show on Wednesday to discuss the latest NHL speculation and said that Fleury may not want to be dealt to D.C. And part of that stems from his roots and legacy with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“I am not convinced that Fleury would be comfortable doing that,” Friedman told Marek. “He’s still very much a Penguin. Sometimes we underestimate how much passion there is in these rivalries.”

Friedman wrote in his 32 Thoughts on Tuesday that the Capitals were looking into trading for No. 29. Washington needs to find consistency in goal and hasn’t exactly seen Vitek Vanecek or Ilya Samsonov take control as the starter. However, Vanecek has recently had a good stretch that has seen him register a .926 save percentage over his last five starts.

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Fleury, meanwhile, has maintained his strong level of play, as the 2021 Vezina winner has gone 13-13-3 with a .913 GAA and 2.76 GAA in 29 games this season.

There’s plenty of time left until the trade deadline, and Friedman thinks Brian MacLellan and company are still interested. It all just comes down to whether or not Fleury would go for it. And at this point, he doesn’t see it. Plus, Fleury has a 10-team NTC.

“I do think the Capitals are very interested, I do think they would love to do it. I mean, we have two months here. We’ll see. But I’m just not convinced that Fleury would feel comfortable doing that at all.”