Marc-André Fleury is playing his best hockey ever.

[MovesLikeJagr68]

Yes he won a cup on a great Penguins team but after that he has sucked in the playoffs so...

Great Penguins team? The top two lines of that team were:

Kunitz-Crosby-Guerin
Gonchar-Orpik

Talbot-Malkin-Fedotenko
Scuderi-Gill

On paper they have had a better team every season since then by far. He was a huge part of that Cup win. HUGE. It's a shame that people choose to overlook that fact because he's had 3 bad playoffs on underachieving teams since then.

 

[Will Hunting]

I wonder how he would do on the Sharks...

Also, didn't he do really well when Crosby and Malkin went down in 2011?

He did, mainly because the Pens went into a very conservative defensive mode that time without their stars. He was profitting from the different team system, just like he´s profitting from it now. That said, he´s playing even better hockey now than he was in 2011.

 

[cleveland408]

Hopefully this shuts up a few of the MAF haters.

 

[Bee Sheriff]

Wow Letang and Fleury? give them the cup right now!

 

[penguins2946*]

What a shocker, when you hire an actual goaltending coach and not a cheerleader that's called a goaltending coach, Fleury plays great.

Wow Letang and Fleury? give them the cup right now!

Pens top-6 still blows, even with this Letang and Fleury, they won't be winning any cups with Spaling and Comeau in the top-6.

 

[cptjeff]

Hopefully this shuts up a few of the MAF haters.

I'd count myself as one of 'em. If he's changed his game and legitimately gotten better, good for him. However, that doesn't change the fact that he was a shaky, comically overrated goalie for most of his career.

A thread dedicated to the idea that 'hey, this guy doesn't suck anymore', kinda confirms what the "haters" have been saying all along.

 

[DearDiary]

Well he was drafted 1st overall for a reason. He's very likely the most athletic and talented goalie in the league. But he's prone to mental breakdowns and making poor decisions with the puck.

He has a new goaltending coach which seems to be working for him, but if he ever does manage to fix that head of his, there's nothing else holding him back from being among the best in the league

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

So we only talk about players when they do well in the playoffs? Fleury is carrying this team with the entire Crosby line out as well as other key players. He deserves some recognition. You don't have to give it to him but to hate on him is pretty petty.

As for the playoffs, goal tending was never the main reason why we were eliminated from the playoffs since MAF has been on this team. Post your gifs of some softies, but it's the offense that doesn't show up in elimination games.

2012 against the Flyers?? 26 Goals on 157 shots? The Pens scored 13 goals over two games to stave off elimination before losing.
The prior year he had imploded too and been replaced so he couldn't be the main reason for advancement or elimination. Let's not sugarcoat his stinkyness in the playoffs after 2008 and before last year.

 

[boredmale]

Fleury has always been a really good regular season goalie(just look at the past few years he is always hovering around 2.35 GAA and .915 save percentage), this year he is doing even better then that. I think people always overstate how bad he is due to a few bad playoff showings

 

[H382]

I'd count myself as one of 'em. If he's changed his game and legitimately gotten better, good for him. However, that doesn't change the fact that he was a shaky, comically overrated goalie for most of his career.

A thread dedicated to the idea that 'hey, this guy doesn't suck anymore', kinda confirms what the "haters" have been saying all along.

I'm not sure how any non Pens fan could be a hater of MAF. He is literally one of the most likeable Pro athletes out there today. Any hate should come from Pens fans after the mental breakdowns he's had.

I also find it amusing you call him overrated. I think ironically this thread confirms the fact that he is NOT overrated.

 

[TheAngryHank]

There is a rumor that Letang is playing fantastic also.

 

[Bee Sheriff]

Fleury has always been a really good regular season goalie(just look at the past few years he is always hovering around 2.35 GAA and .915 save percentage), this year he is doing even better then that. I think people always overstate how bad he is due to a few bad playoff showings

Very true.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

Fleury has always been a really good regular season goalie(just look at the past few years he is always hovering around 2.35 GAA and .915 save percentage), this year he is doing even better then that. I think people always overstate how bad he is due to a few bad playoff showings

except he hasn't been really good, this one is a little stale, but it shows through 2012 MAF was a little below average:
http://drivingplay.blogspot.com/2012/04/darren-dreger-is-squandering-his-vezina.html

this one shows that he hasn't outplayed his back-ups, so his mediocre Sv% isn't just due to "Bylsma's system" or "being hung out to dry" -- you would still expect him to outplay his back-ups:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/fleury-barely-outplays-his-backups/

That said, he was fine last year, including the playoffs and has been stellar this year--which coincides with him getting a new goalie coach and seeing a sports psychologist.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

The saddest part is that it took this long to find a proper goaltending coach for him and people don't understand how important that is for a guy that talented to have no one to help guide him or mentor him and goalies need that big time, every single goaltender in the league will brag about his goalie coach/mentor.

Meloche was never that good at it, horrible actually.

I hope MAF continues this and it shuts a lot of people up about him.

Also, I think Bylsma did more damage than good with MAF.

 

[boredmale]

except he hasn't been really good, this one is a little stale, but it shows through 2012 MAF was a little below average:
http://drivingplay.blogspot.com/2012/04/darren-dreger-is-squandering-his-vezina.html

this one shows that he hasn't outplayed his back-ups, so his mediocre Sv% isn't just due to "Bylsma's system" or "being hung out to dry" -- you would still expect him to outplay his back-ups:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/fleury-barely-outplays-his-backups/

That said, he was fine last year, including the playoffs and has been stellar this year--which coincides with him getting a new goalie coach and seeing a sports psychologist.

I was going on regular season 2010-11 onwards. beyond that while you may point to slightly better stats for his backup(which actually only happened once during that time in terms of GAA) Quality of competition needs to be factored into the equation

It should be pointed out with Dregers article you posted saying he would vote Fleury for Vezina in 2012, if you look at Johnson's stats that year Fleury blew him away(2.36 vs 3.11 GAA and .913 vs .883 save percentage)

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Yes he won a cup on a great Penguins team but after that he has sucked in the playoffs so...

Did you miss last year?

 

[aufheben]

Great Penguins team? The top two lines of that team were:

Kunitz-Crosby-Guerin
Gonchar-Orpik

Talbot-Malkin-Fedotenko
Scuderi-Gill

On paper they have had a better team every season since then by far. He was a huge part of that Cup win. HUGE. It's a shame that people choose to overlook that fact because he's had 3 bad playoffs on underachieving teams since then.

That Penguins team was more complete than anything they've had since.

 

[zeke]

he's flown under the radar a bit but he's been an above average goalie the last few years.

 

[Amp30]

Great Penguins team? The top two lines of that team were:

Kunitz-Crosby-Guerin
Gonchar-Orpik

Talbot-Malkin-Fedotenko
Scuderi-Gill

On paper they have had a better team every season since then by far. He was a huge part of that Cup win. HUGE. It's a shame that people choose to overlook that fact because he's had 3 bad playoffs on underachieving teams since then.

Huge? He had a .908 SV%, I wouldn't really call that impressive. Penguins won that season because Crosby and Malkin dominated the playoffs and carried the team.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

That Penguins team was more complete than anything they've had since.

No, not even remotely close. They won the cup because Crosby and Malkin singlehandedly carried the team and Bylsma had not implemented his system yet. The only Pens team less talented since then was 2009-10.

 

[Devonator]

It means nothing until Fleury can do it again in the playoffs...it seems when the pressure is on, he wilts....

 

[gretskidoo]

I feel like I read this every year.

 

[Stad]

I feel like I read this every year.

Not that i can remember.

 

[Will Hunting]

I feel like I read this every year.

What?

 

[BigEezyE22]

Huge? He had a .908 SV%, I wouldn't really call that impressive. Penguins won that season because Crosby and Malkin dominated the playoffs and carried the team.

In 09, the Pens NEVER trailed in elimination games. He allowed 4 goals over 3 such games, 2 of which occured against the Caps after Pens took a 5-0 lead and the game was over. Well after Fleury totally deflated the Caps and their fans after robbing Ovy on that memorable breakaway. And let's not forget that stoning of Lidstrom in game 7. Fleury more than carried his own weight that year.