Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury did not participate in training camp on Wednesday. This marked the third straight day in which Fleury sat out from practicing with the team. The three-time Stanley Cup champion was given a maintenance day Monday after doing voluntary workouts for five weeks during phase two of the return to play plan.
Updates
Golden Knights head coach Peter DeBoer said Monday that Fleury’s absence has “nothing to do with a positive [COVID-19] test or anything like that”. “He’s doing fine. We’ve got a long runway before we start,” DeBoer said Wednesday. “The plan is he will be on the ice before the weekend.”
🎥 DeBoer: We’re not going to name a captain before we go back, but we will have one prior to the start of next season. pic.twitter.com/zprI9R164r
— y-Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) July 15, 2020
Fleury’s season stats are 27-16-5 with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage. They’re not his best stats in the three seasons with the Golden Knights but he still knows what it takes to be a Stanley Cup champion.
DeBoer also alluded to the two other Vegas goalies in Robin Lehner and Oscar Dansk. “We have two starting goalies (Fleury and Lehner) and we’re going to play them both,” DeBoer said Tuesday.
The (Somewhat) Newest Golden Knight
Lehner is somewhat the newest player on the block. The Jennings Trophy winner was acquired by Vegas on Feb. 24 via a three-team trade. During his first three games with the Golden Knights this season, he went 3-0-0 with a 1.67 GAA and .940 save percentage. “I think a very good surprise to me is how committed this team is,” Lehner said Wednesday via a Zoom interview. “Everyone’s been here since day one of phase two and I’ve been on the ice since day one. I’ve been on the ice for five weeks, this is my sixth week and the whole team has been working really hard and trying to get prepared. I think this knows how this is a good opportunity for this team, a really strong chance of going far. Everyone’s been going hard.”
Lehner is serving as the Golden Knights’ number one goalie in training camp while Fleury continues to rest. Lehner is also set to be an unrestricted free agent after this season.
The Golden Knights are one of four round-robin teams that will compete against the Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues to determine seeding for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.