BY ISAAC HOWSON, PRODUCTION DIRECTOR
Marc-André Fleury was a name I heard a lot of in my younger days watching hockey. The Pittsburgh Penguins were always competing for Stanley Cups and with Crosby and Malkin it seems Fleury could be the third future Hall of Famer to come out of that mini Penguins dynasty.
However, taking a closer look at some of his stats, I question whether or not he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. While I think the Hockey Hall of Fame will eventually give him his dues, I don’t think they should.
To illustrate my point I’ll be using GSAA or goals saved above average along with other standard goalie statistics. While GSAA does not take into account shot quality it helps create a general idea to where that goalie stands comparative to the rest in the league.
My first critique with Fleury’s HOF chances is where he stands comparative to other goalies he played with at his time. Take him and Buffalo Sabres’ legend Ryan Miller. Miller is a goalie most outside of Buffalo would argue he doesn’t deserve to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He had some great years but it’s just not enough to get him in.
If you look at just their base stats Fleury has a career save percentage of .912 and a goals against average at 2.59 for his career. Then if you look at Miller he has a career .914 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.64. They both have a Vezina trophy, but Miller’s is significantly more impressive, in my opinion.
In Miller’s 2009-10 season he put up a .929 save percentage, a goals against average of 2.22 and had a GSAA of 36.2. In Fleury’s Vezina winning season in 2020-21 he put up a save percentage of.928, a goals against average of 1.98 and a GSAA of 20.1. However, the difference here is Fleury only played in 36 games compared to Miller’s 69.
I don’t fault Fleury for that, it was Covid so it makes sense why he played in fewer games. However, while Miller had a good Sabres team the year he won his Vezina, Fleury had a dominant team in the Vegas Golden Knights. Vegas in that shortened season went 40-14-2 compared to Miller’s Sabres team that went 45-27-10 which helps explain the difference in goals against average. Taking a look at just their GSAA Fleury had a similar Vezina season to that of John Vanbiesbrouck back in the 1985-86 season, and I don’t think people are clamoring for Vanbiesbrouck to get into the Hall. I apologize to the Vanbiesbrouck fans, if there are ones out there.
The big help for Fleury is his three stanley cups, and while it’s hard to argue against them, I’ll try. Firstly look at the teams he was on. Those cup winning teams of the mid 2010s had Phill Kessel, a future hall of famer in my opinion, as arguably their 4th or 5th best player. Then if you want to point to his earlier cup team I’d argue he wasn’t that good in that run either. He only put up a save percentage 0f .908 and a GSAA of -4.7. He also wasn’t as important to those other cup runs. He played in two games in the 2015-16 playoffs and split time the next season and was outperformed by Matt Murray.
I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve his flowers, it’s just I don’t think he’s had the personal stats to back up his Hockey Hall of Fame chances.
howsonid21@bonaventure.edu
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