Reading Between The Lines
Fleury's Success Goes Beyond Rookie Stats
By Bob Grove

As a proven star on the international junior stage and the second goaltender in NHL history drafted first overall, Marc-Andre Fleury was expected to do nothing less than turn heads when he arrived in Pittsburgh. So he did.

The 18-year-old was the best goaltender in training camp, stopped 46 shots in his NHL debut against Los Angeles, outplayed Dominik Hasek eight days later for his first professional victory and, before October was out, blanked the Blackhawks in Chicago and won Rookie of the Month honors.

Fleury flashed a quick glove hand, surprised forwards with a lethal poke-check and relied on his amazing lateral quickness to absorb into his distinctive yellow pads shots that looked like sure goals.

Penguins' assistant coach Lorne Molleken, who played the position at the minor pro level, didn't dream of tinkering with Fleury's game.

In Marc-Andre's case, there were questions from outside our dressing room about whether he was going down too much, committing too early, or overplaying pucks. My advice to him when we sat and watched tape, recalls Molleken, was not to change anything.

Handling Tough Times

But Fleury's promising start wasn't matched by his teammates, who routinely allowed him to face more shots, and quality scoring chances, than turn up in a coach's nightmare. Fleury saw 35 or more shots in nine of the first 15 games he started and finished.

He played extremely well early, individually, and unfortunately for us we didn't start really getting into our team play, playing better five-on-five and giving our goaltenders help, until a little bit later, laments coach Ed Olczyk.

By then, Fleury's game had gotten a little rough around the edges. That's how the early favorite for the Calder Trophy wound up with final rookie season statistics that didn't overwhelm anyone: four wins in 20 decisions, a 3.64 goals-against average and a save percentage of .896.

But the story of Fleury's first season in Pittsburgh, which ended with his return to Cape Breton of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in late January, can't be told with numbers. Nor with the praise for his ability lavished upon Fleury by many opponents, including New Jersey's Martin Brodeur.

In many ways, what Fleury did off the ice was more impressive than what he did on it. As a teenager who turned 19 in November, he moved to another country, shouldered a mountain of expectations, deflected questions about his contract and the Penguins' ability to pay it and responded to continued speculation about whether he would be returned to junior hockey to lighten the team's payroll in light of his lucrative and reachable bonus clauses.

And that was before he was loaned to the Canadian national team for the 2004 World Junior Championships in Finland. Before he accidentally fired a clearing pass off a teammate for the decisive goal in Canada's gold medal game loss to the United States, before discussions of and questions about that goal followed him 24 hours a day and before he was returned to Cape Breton just as the Penguins were spiraling downward into an NHL-record home losing streak and a franchise-record winless streak.

The situation he was in here wasn't the best for him. From a hockey standpoint, it was very beneficial for him to go back, says general manager Craig Patrick. The money played into it, but we just decided the best thing for him was to go play. He really is a humble guy who just loves the game of hockey, and all he really cares about is getting out there and playing.

Obviously, we were all thrilled with his on-ice skills, but we also learned to become very pleased and impressed with his off-ice demeanor and how he handled things. There were a lot of distractions, not all of them positive. But he's a special, special person. To me, he's got the capability of being a lot like Mario as a person going forward.

Veteran Marc Bergevin, 38, was Fleury's roommate and saw first-hand the level of maturity the young goaltender brought with him to the NHL. But that's not to say Fleury didn't lean on his teammate at all.

Before he left for the World Championships, we were in Vancouver and he asked me how it was going to be for him coming back (to the NHL), recalls Bergevin. He was a little uncertain about his future when he left, and I tried to reassure him that when he came back it would be OK. I said, 'They'll wait for you, because they want you back here. It's going to be good for your career.' As much as he wanted to stay, he's going to look back five years from now and say that was the best thing for him.

Added Olczyk, Deep down, he wants to be in the NHL. Even when he went to the World Junior

Championships, he didn't want to go. It wasn't like he didn't want to represent his country, but he just wanted to be in the NHL, it's what he's wanted to do for a long, long time. He wanted to stay, and that's what we want (to hear).

Shouldering Responsibility

At the other end of the experience spectrum was fellow rookie Ryan Malone, who marveled at how well Fleury adjusted to seemingly endless demands for his attention before and after games. He was well-known throughout Canada before being drafted first overall, as his performance in the 2003 World Junior Championships in Halifax almost lifted Canada past Russia for the gold medal.

When we went to Canada to play, especially in Montreal and Toronto, the locker room was so full of reporters there was not even room for us to change out of our gear after games, Malone said. He kind of gets it everywhere he goes, people asking for pretty much everything, anything they can get their hands on. You can't ask for a better kid.

If Fleury's personal approach was impressive, so too was his professional tack to the position. He allowed 70 goals in 21 games and took every one personally.

That's the type of goaltender he is, every goal is his fault. He's a battler, and he works extremely hard, and that is one of his greatest assets, says Olczyk. It was a whirlwind, no doubt about it. But in the end, there's no question he exceeded my expectations.

Said Molleken, With our team struggling, whether that bothered him deep down, I don't know. But you could never see it on the surface. When the puck goes by him, he shoulders that responsibility. He always says to me, 'My job is to stop the puck no matter what.'

That's a great attitude. I've been in this coaching racket now for 18 or 19 years, and you hear that. But he's very sincere when he says that.

Fleury won each of his first four starts back with his Cape Breton team, which has a legitimate shot this spring to win the Memorial Cup, symbolic of junior hockey supremacy in Canada. Soon he'll be back in another pressure-filled situation, and no one in Pittsburgh will bet against him.

He thinks he can stop everything, and that's great, says Malone. He never gives up, and that's something special about him that will make him a great player. Everybody knows he's not going to go away. He wants to be the best goalie in the league, and then the best to ever play. I can't wait to see him again.

PSR Senior Writer Bob Grove has been covering the Penguins since 1981 and currently serves as a regular co-host on the Penguins Radio Network.