Double Team: Marc-Andre Fleury gave hope to Penguins then Golden Knights

While the NHL is on hold because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Tribune-Review will offer the Double Team project, an examination of the five best players who have contributed substantially to the Penguins and another franchise. For consideration, a player must have played at least the equivalent of a full season for each franchise. (Sorry, Jarome Iginla fans.)

Today, a look at the Vegas Golden Knights. Entering the NHL as an expansion team, the Golden Knights were the first major American professional sports franchise in Las Vegas. Their name is in recognition of the United States Military Academy’s Black Knights teams.

In six all-time games against the Golden Knights, the Penguins have a 3-3-0 record.

1. Marc-Andre Fleury, goaltender

In the years after their messy divorce from captain Jaromir Jagr, the Penguins were in a tailspin as an organization. They were facing financial hardship while struggling to secure funding for a new arena. And on the ice, they were wretched.

While Mario Lemieux remained as player/owner, he was more owner than player at that stage of his career.

They needed a new player to anchor their franchise. So prior to the 2003 draft, general manager Craig Patrick swung a deal with the Florida Panthers to move up from No. 3 to No. 1. That maneuvering allowed them to select Fleury.

The skinny, affable 18-year-old from Quebec didn’t fix the franchise immediately. But he gave it a desperately needed injection of hope. And he managed to provide optimism even while losing in his NHL debut.

In a season-opening 3-0 home loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 10, 2003, Fleury got little help from a lineup mostly composed of castoffs and was bombarded with 48 shots. Wearing his signature yellow pads, Fleury made 46 saves, including a poke check — another hallmark of his dazzling career — against Kings forward Esa Pirnes on a penalty shot near the end regulation.

Fleury’s inspired effort earned roaring approval from the fans who packed Mellon Arena that autumn night.

Along with the arrivals of franchise pillars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Fleury helped boost the Penguins over the next decade-plus, transforming them from a perrenial draft lottery contender to perrenial Stanley Cup contender.

Owner of virtually every franchise record of note for goaltenders, Fleury helped the team to the 2009 Stanley Cup title.

With the ascension of Matt Murray during the team’s Stanley Cup runs of 2016 and ‘17, the realities of the business side of hockey forced the Penguins to part ways with Fleury amicably. Wanting to do right by him they provided him an opportunity to play and arranged for the Golden Knights to take him in the 2017 expansion draft.

He would offer hope for another franchise.

And he did that almost immediately. Nearly 14 years to the day of his NHL debut, Fleury made 45 saves for the Golden Knights in a 2-1 road win against the Dallas Stars on Oct. 6, 2017.

Fleury and the Golden Knights largely shocked the NHL most of the season by winning the Pacific Division, becoming the first true expansion team in major North American sports to claim a division crown in its inaugural season. They then rolled through the playoffs and inexplicably reached the Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Washington Capitals.

Since then, the Golden Knights have qualified for the playoffs in each of their two ensuing seasons largely because of Fleury providing them the most basic of elements for a team.

Hope.

2. Deryk Engelland, defenseman

The Golden Knights brought Engelland in from the Calgary Flames during the expansion draft for his off-ice experience more than his abilities on the ice.

Having played parts of two seasons for the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL in the mid-2000s, Engelland maintained a residence in the city and was one of the few NHL players who had played in Las Vegas before the league expanded there. Golden Knights management felt the depth defenseman could be vital in terms of helping his teammates acclimate to their new surroundings. And the team wanted an ambassador to connect with the residents of Las Vegas.

And before the team played a home game, Engelland’s civic connections were relied on in a fashion no one could have envisioned.

Following a shooting massacre that claimed the lives of 58 people at a music festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017, the franchise’s first home contest was held nine days later at T-Mobile Arena.

Given the tragic circumstances, the Golden Knights staged a poignant ceremony beforehand recognizing victims and first responders. Engelland, the team’s unofficial spokesperson, gave a brief but resolute speech offering support to the community as a whole.

Then, during the first period, Engelland scored a goal to help the Golden Knights defeat the Arizona Coyotes, 5-2.

Engelland set a career-high during his first season in Vegas, putting up 23 points in 79 games and helping the Golden Knights reach the Stanley Cup Final.

He has remained a steady defensive and civic presence in Vegas.

Engelland’s first taste of the NHL came with the Penguins earlier in the decade. A minor league free agent signing in 2007, Engelland didn’t made his NHL debut until the 2009-10 season at the age of 27.

He broke through as a full-time NHLer in 2010-11 in part because of his fighting ability, which allowed him to secure surprising but unofficial wins against heavyweights such as Maple Leafs forward Colton Orr.

Occasionally used as a forward, Engelland spent parts of five seasons as a depth defenseman with the Penguins, helping them reach the playoffs each time.

3. James Neal, left winger

The Penguins acquired Neal in a trade with the Stars midway through the 2010-11 season. After he struggled to find his footing with his new team, he took a major step forward in 2011-12.

Teamed on a line with Malkin, who was returning from a serious knee injury, Neal was flipped from his listed position to right wing and erupted for a career-high 40 goals and 81 points in 80 games. That performance led to him being selected for an All-Star Game for the first time in his career. Not coincidentally, Malkin won the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP.

Malkin and Neal were welded together for the next two seasons, with the latter consistently hitting the 20-goal barrier despite various injuries or suspensions over that time.

The Penguins dealt Neal to the Nashville Predators in June 2014. Three years later, Neal joined his fourth team after being claimed by Vegas in the expansion draft. Neal lasted only one season in Vegas but was one of the team’s top players, scoring 25 goals and 44 points in 71 games and helping them reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Following the season, he joined the Flames as a free agent.

4. David Perron, left winger

The Penguins had high hopes for Perron when they acquired him via trade from the Edmonton Oilers in December 2014. They thought so well of him, they dealt away their first-round pick in 2015.

And he seemed to validate their hopes from the start, putting up nine points in his first nine games while playing mostly on a line with Crosby as well as the top power-play unit.

But as has been the case in most of the stops throughout Perron’s career, his lack of consistency overwhelmed his undeniable skills.

Perron produced only 22 points in 43 games with the Penguins that season. His production got even worse in 2015-16 with 16 points in 43 games. By January 2015, the Penguins had seen enough and traded him to the Anaheim Ducks.

Bouncing between the Ducks and St. Louis Blues over the next two seasons, Perron was claimed by the Golden Knights in the expansion draft, and like a lot of the misfit toys assembled in Las Vegas, he thrived.

Appearing in 70 games, Perron set a career-high with 66 points during the 2017-18 season and reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in his career.

During the ensuing offseason, he rejoined the Blues as a free agent.

5. Ryan Reaves, right winger

Including Reaves on this list flies directly into this project’s “full season” qualifier, but there are limited options given how young the Golden Knights still are.

Tired of seeing his star players get roughed up by the opposition, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford traded for one of the last true enforcers in the NHL by acquiring Reaves from the St. Louis Blues in June 2017 for a first-round pick in that year’s draft as well as forward prospect Oskar Sundqvist.

Reaves’ game was simple. He was a fourth-liner who could throw hits and punches. But he never really found a fit within coach Mike Sullivan’s system. After 58 games, eight points and 84 penalty minutes, Reaves was moved in February 2018 to the Golden Knights in a three-team trade that also involved the Ottawa Senators.

Reaves’ affable personality was an immediate fit in glitzy Las Vegas. Plus, his pugilistic ways were far more at home in the rough-and-tumble Pacific Division.

A member of the 2018 Western Conference championship team, Reaves has been a staple in the Golden Knights’ lineup for the past three seasons, appearing in 172 games and putting up 37 points as well as 131 penalty minutes.

Honorable mention: None. There were so few players who spent the equivalent of a full season with each team, there are no candidates worthy of this designation.

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