Pittsburgh Penguins: Finding a Replacement for Marc-Andre Fleury

The Las Vegas Golden Knights selected Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in Wednesday’s expansion draft.

Fleury, who was drafted first overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2003, had always been our starting goaltender. With the arrival of Matt Murray, it was clear he was starting to take a backseat, but not as a backup, but instead as a 1B option. Both goaltenders were spectacular, and it was clear we would have to eventually lose one.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Now with Fleury gone, it’s time to start looking at our options for replacing him.

The Farm

We can first look to the goalies we already have. It looks like Tristan Jerry is the leading candidate to take the backup job, but who else do we have. Another goaltender prospect will begin development in the AHL if Jerry is called up. This is probably the easiest method to find a backup.

Free Agency

Testing the free agent waters is also a good method to acquire a backup goaltender. There are a few options available this offseason come July 1st. We should be looking at unrestricted free agents who won’t take much of a cap hit.

Some options this year include Chad Johnson, Anders Nilsson, Curtis McElhinney and Jhonas Enroth. We could take a look at some of these goaltenders and hope one is serviceable.

Trades

Trading for a backup goaltender is always an option. A few goaltenders are always available who can be picked up for a fairly cheap price. How they fair in net however is another question.

We can pick up another prospect, or just another team’s backup goaltender. We can maybe even take a look at some other team’s starters who can play second fiddle to Murray without hurting our cap. Whatever the deal is, we can look to acquire a goaltender without risking away our core.