Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was named to the NHL’s All-Decade First Team on Friday, the league announced.
The players were chosen by a panel comprised of NHL general managers, hockey operations staff, NHL.com staff writers and on-air commentators from NBC, Sportsnet, and TVA.
Fleury was selected to the first team by being the winningest goalie of the decade (322) in a period of time that spanned two different teams; the Golden Knights and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup twice, but it came with Fleury as the primary backup to Matt Murray. Fleury did win the Cup with the Penguins, as the starter, in 2009 against the Detroit Red Wings. Fleury was, in fact, instrumental in Pittsburgh reaching the Cup Final in his final season with the Penguins; he went 9-6-0 in 15 starts all the way until the Eastern Conference Final before Murray returned from injury and led the Penguins to their second straight championship.
Going in a different direction in net, the Penguins exposed Fleury in the NHL Expansion Draft, which of course led the Golden Knights to select Fleury in June 2017.
In Vegas’ inaugural season, Fleury made only 46 starts but had the best statistical season of his NHL career; a 29-13-4 record with a goals-against average of 2.24 and a .927 save percentage was instrumental in leading the Golden Knights to an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final in the inaugural 2018 campaign.
Former Penguins teammate Sidney Crosby is also on the first team, as is Capitals rival Alex Ovechkin.
While Fleury’s numbers have dipped the past two seasons, he’s still well on pace to surpass Ed Belfour (484) and Roberto Luongo (489) on the NHL’s all-time wins list before he retires. Fleury is tied with New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist for fifth place. Both goalies have 458 wins to their credit.
Lundqvist was voted to the NHL’s All-Decade Second Team.
NHL All-Decade First Team
F – Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
F- Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
F – Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
D – Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings
D – Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks
G – Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights/Pittsburgh Penguins
NHL All-Decade Second Team
F – Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
F – Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
F – Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
D – Erik Karlsson, San Jose Sharks/Ottawa Senators
D – Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins
G – Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers