Mark Madden: Could Marc-Andre Fleury return to the Penguins?

It’s not imminent. There are lots of moving parts. Chances seem less than 50-50.

But goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury could return to the Penguins. It’s possible.

You may recall Allan Walsh, Fleury’s agent, recently tweeting an altered photo that showed Fleury stabbed in the back by a sword stamped “DeBoer.” As in Peter DeBoer, who took over as Fleury’s coach in Las Vegas on Jan. 15.

This provoked outrage. Fleury told Walsh to delete the tweet but didn’t exactly wallow in contrition on his agent’s behalf, saying Walsh is “a guy that always protects.”

The story goes that when Vegas acquired goalie Robin Lehner from Chicago on Feb. 24, DeBoer told Fleury that Fleury’s starting job was safe. If Fleury believed that, shame on him, because Lehner was a Vezina Trophy (top goalie) finalist with the New York Islanders last season, and the Golden Knights gave up a player, prospect and second-round pick to get him.

Lehner has since usurped Fleury’s job. DeBoer has tried to placate Fleury via three postseason starts, and he has won all three. Lehner has started the other 11. (Vegas faces Vancouver in Game 7 of their second-round series Friday night.)

The issue doesn’t seem to be that Lehner is the starter. It’s that Fleury feels deceived.

Lehner, 29, is an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, but Vegas is likely to keep him. Fleury, 35, is signed through 2022 at an annual salary cap hit of $7 million. The Penguins won’t want to absorb that cap figure. It’s likely no team would.

So, how do the Penguins get Fleury back?

Vegas could buy him out.

The NHL hasn’t seen many buyouts since 2013 and ’14, when the NHL allowed each franchise two “compliance buyouts” after the lockout of 2012-13. But buyouts are still on the books, albeit in less forgiving fashion.

Why would Vegas buy out Fleury? Maybe because Fleury would be difficult to trade. Perhaps to part amicably with a player who has meant a lot to that franchise during its brief history.

Fleury wouldn’t make trouble if he stayed. That’s not his nature. But he wouldn’t be happy.

Under the terms of a buyout, Fleury would be paid $8.33 million. That’s two-thirds of his remaining base salary. Vegas would take on the following cap hits over the next four seasons: $2.58 million, $3.08 million, $2.08 million and $2.08 million.

Fleury would be a free agent. Since he’d get $8.33 million from the buyout, Fleury might ask for a reasonable figure from the Penguins by way of being happy and returning “home.”

With Matt Murray certain to depart, Fleury would step into a No. 1/No. 1A goalie situation with Tristan Jarry, with Fleury being 1A. But with the NHL season probably not starting until 2021 and tightly packed together because of that, there would be plenty of work to go around. It’s a better option than borderline NHL netminder Casey DeSmith filling the backup role.

All this is more than a bit fanciful. But the Penguins organization has thought about it. It’s believed the dressing room lost something when Fleury left and never got it back. Murray isn’t the sort to lift his team emotionally. Fleury is, and he often did.

Fleury would be good working with Jarry, as he was with Murray.

One fly in the ointment: The minute Fleury is a Penguin again, fans would want Fleury to play every game. They would be openly hostile to bad goals allowed by Jarry, or bad defeats he sustains. Ironic considering Fleury was a lightning rod for criticism before he lost the starting job to Murray and became the underdog. But that’s the nature of the position.

Would Jarry hear that? Could he handle that? Probably. He doesn’t seem bothered by much.

The market for Murray might be bigger than expected. Various reports list Buffalo, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Ottawa and Toronto as potential trade partners.

It was hard to imagine the Penguins getting more than a third-round selection for Murray, perhaps a second. But Montreal gave St. Louis a third-round pick for netminder Jake Allen, who will merely be Carey Price’s backup. (The teams also swapped seventh-round choices.) Price and Allen combine for almost $15 million against Montreal’s cap.

Allen, 30, is good. But Murray, 26, has two rings and more of a future. What’s Murray worth compared to Allen?

It’s starting to look like NHL GMs might be remembering Murray as the big-game goalie he was in 2016 and ’17, not the inconsistent performer he has been since. That’s good for Penguins GM Jim Rutherford.