A few weeks ago, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said he was “not in a hurry” to re-sign goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who’s under contract for just one more season at a $5 million cap hit before he can become an unrestricted free agent.
That was, apparently, fine with Fleury’s agent; however, the 29-year-old netminder admitted yesterday that he had mixed feelings about heading into 2014-15 as a pending UFA.
“I think for a player, it’s always nice to have the certainty of a contract,” said Fleury, per the Tribune-Review. “You never know what can happen. But at the same time, I’m not too worried. I love this city and this team. I want to stay here and win. I want to play here. We’ll see what happens.”
Fleury has been a lightning rod for criticism since he helped the Pens to the Stanley Cup in 2009. While his numbers were decent this past postseason (.915 save percentage), it’s not too hard to picture the club going in a different direction next summer, especially should his play falter.
Per CapGeek, Fleury has the highest cap hit among all pending UFA goalies.