NHL Rumors: Penguins & Fleury Reunion Coming

According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the hockey insider could see Marc-Andre Fleury returning to the Pittsburgh Penguins organization when he hits the open market come July 13.

There was a ton of discussion throughout this season that the Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks were talking trade, however Chicago was holding firm they wanted at least a conditional first-round pick for the reigning Vezina trophy winner and Penguins general manager Ron Hextall wanted nothing to do with moving his first selection at the 2022 NHL Draft. The Blackhawks ended up finding what they were looking for from the Minnesota Wild and frankly 'The Flower' has fit in perfectly with his old buddy Bill Guerin.

The Penguins could use Fleury at the moment as starting netminder Tristan Jarry recently went down with a lower-body injury that appears to be keeping him out of action for a least a few weeks. There's been lots made of the fact Pittsburgh didn't do anything to acquire goaltender depth at the trade deadline after Jarry wasn't able to get the job done in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.

Hextall and Penguins president of hockey operations Brian Burke have a ton of major decisions to make this upcoming offseason as the likes of Bryan Rust, Evan Rodrigues, Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell are all hitting the open market. The team won't be able to afford everyone and if Fleury wants to return to where it all began, he's going to need to take a major discount from his $7 million salary this season. It's going to be an interesting offseason in Pittsburgh to say the very least.