Marc-Andre Fleury

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Position Goaltender
Catches Left
Height
Weight		 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
180 lb (82 kg)
NHL Team Pittsburgh Penguins
Nationality Flag of Canada Canada
Born November 28, 1984,
Sorel, QC
NHL Draft 1st overall, 2003
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pro Career 2004(NHL) – present

Marc-André Fleury (b. November 28, 1984 in Sorel, Quebec, Canada) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He is the goaltender for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League. He is only the third goalie to be chosen first overall in the NHL draft, with the others being Michel Plasse and Rick DiPietro. Fleury was also known for his unique bright yellow goalie pads.

Contents

[edit] NHL career

Fleury was drafted first overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft and is considered one of the premier young talents in the league.[1] [2]

He made his debut in 2003-04, and played 21 games. He was rotated regularly and split the season with fellow netminders Jean-Sebastien Aubin and Sebastien Caron. He immediately began to show promising results with a 46 save performance against Los Angeles and 31 saves in a 4-3 win over Dominik Hasek and the Detroit Red Wings.[3] His first NHL shutout came October 30, 2003 in a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.[3] However, as the season progressed, his performance began to sink, largely due to Pittsburgh's poor defense-[3] the team regularly gave up over 30 shots per game, and rarely managed to become an offensive threat.[4]

During the labour dispute, Fleury played for the Penguins' American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, where he posted a 26-19-4 record with a goals against average of 2.52 and a save percentage of 0.901.

In 2005-06, Fleury was periodically sent back down to the AHL affiliate, where he had a solid performance. On November 28, he was called up to play in Pittsburgh for the rest of the season. While his team fared poorly throughout the year, Fleury's statistics remained relatively good. The Penguins finished last in the Eastern Conference and with the worst defense, allowing 316 goals,[5] but Fleury managed to hold a save percentage of 0.898, which was about .020 higher than Sebastien Caron or Jocelyn Thibault.

Despite playing in front of a very shaky defense, Fleury was able to impress the team management with his technique and performance. During the summer of 2006, he signed a two-year contract extension worth $2.59 million.[6]

[edit] International play

Marc-Andre Fleury has won two silver medals with Team Canada in the IIHF World Junior Championships.

Fleury is sometimes thought as a scapegoat for Canada after an unlucky goal in the 2004 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships gold medal game against the United States. The game was tied 3-3 until Fleury left the net to clear the puck out of the defensive zone. Instead, it bounced off of Patrick O'Sullivan's leg and went into the empty net, giving the Americans the lead in the third period.

[edit] Accolades


[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Regular season

   
Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA Sv%
2000-01 Cape Breton QMJHL 35 12 13 2 1704 115 0 4.05 .886
2001-02 Cape Breton QMJHL 55 26 14 8 3043 141 2 2.78 .915
2002-03 Cape Breton QMJHL 51 17 24 6 2889 162 2 3.36 .910
2003-04 Pittsburgh NHL 22 4 14 2 1154 70 1 3.64 .896
2003-04 Cape Breton QMJHL 10 8 1 1 606 20 0 1.98 .933
2003-04 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton AHL 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --
2004-05 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton AHL 54 26 19 4 3029 127 5 2.52 .901
2005-06 Pittsburgh NHL 50 13 27 0 2809 152 1 3.25 .898
NHL CAREER TOTALS 72 17 41 2 3963 222 2 3.36 .897


Preceded by:
Rick Nash		 1st Overall Pick in NHL Entry Draft
2003		 Succeeded by:
Alexander Ovechkin

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ TSN player profile. Retrieved on 2006-09-02.
  2. ^ Wigge, Larry. "A Penguin other than Crosby draws rave reviews", NHL.com, 2005-12-23. Retrieved on 2006-09-02.
  3. ^ a b c Worgo, Tom. "It was all about the money", Hockey Digest, 2003-12-01. Retrieved on 2006-09-02.
  4. ^ Kreiser, John. "WJC respite should help Fleury", NHL.com, 2003-12-12. Retrieved on 2006-09-02.
  5. ^ 2005-2006 Conference Standings. Retrieved on 2006-09-02.
  6. ^ "Penguins sign Fleury to two-year deal", 2006-08-05. Retrieved on 2006-09-02.

[edit] External links

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