New Jersey Devils: 3 High-Priced Options To Replace Corey Crawford

Marc-Andre Fleury

It felt like a guarantee that the Vegas Golden Knights were going to trade their first expansion pick. They just gave Robin Lehner a huge contract after trading for him at last year’s trade deadline. So, right now, Fleury is making $7 million per season, third-highest among current goalies this season (when ranking salary and not cap hit). He’s not worth that price anymore, but he’s still a very serviceable goalie.

The Golden Knights are currently about $1 million over the cap. Obviously, they don’t need to lose $7 million worth of Fleury to get compliant, but they do need to do something. Shedding themselves of Fleury’s contract helps them this year and next year. It also gets them the ability to make moves at the trade deadline. If they barely get themselves under the cap, they need to pray for an injury to get some maneuverability.

This also helps the Devils during the expansion draft, since Fleury does not have a no-move clause (although he might have used it to stay in Vegas anyway). He does have a modified no-trade clause, so he could put the Devils on that list. Either way, some things have to fall into place for the Devils to make this move.

Would the Golden Knights be willing to give up on Fleury for nothing? It’s hard to tell. It has to be an option, though. They want to win the Stanley Cup. They got all the way to the Final in their first year in existence. Since then, they’ve been making gigantic moves to try and get back. They just signed Alex Pietrangelo in the offseason. If trading Fleury eventually helps them make a move to win the Cup, they might do it. They have four young goalies under contract, so they might like one of them enough to make them the backup this season.