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Vegas Golden Knights making a mistake starting Marc-Andre Fleury

By Luis Tirado Jr.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 23: Marc-Andre Fleury #29 of the Vegas Golden Knights saves a shot during the third period against the Edmonton Oilers at T-Mobile Arena on November 23, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 23: Marc-Andre Fleury #29 of the Vegas Golden Knights saves a shot during the third period against the Edmonton Oilers at T-Mobile Arena on November 23, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is getting the nod to start tonight for the Vegas Golden Knights as they take on the Chicago Blackhawks. This is a mistake in the grand scheme of things.

It’s not easy dealing with a death in the family. Such is the case with goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury as he, unfortunately, lost his father a few weeks ago. In his place, the Vegas Golden Knights gave Malcolm Subban some starts and he ran with it.

Not only did Subban look impressive given more starting time but he finally put things together to showcase his skills and perhaps what could be the future at goalie for the team. You see, Subban thrives when he’s able to do what he does best consistently, not so much when given a few starts here and there and then put back on the bench.

Considering that Fleury is still going through what he’s going through, the Golden Knights are making a mistake starting him again so quickly. Ideally, it would have made more sense to keep Subban starting until perhaps the end of the week to continue riding the momentum.

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In an article written by David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, he confirmed that Fleury has been given the go-ahead to start tonight protecting the net for the Golden Knights. Mind you, it’s his first start in over two weeks and will disrupt the mostly consistent results by Subban so far this season.

Head coach Gerard Gallant hasn’t committed to giving Subban the majority of starts as he wants to continue holding onto everything Fleury brings to the table. Yes, Fleury will go down in NHL history as one of the best goaltenders of all-time and when he plays well, the Golden Knights tend to win, but Subban can be groomed to be the future of the position with more starts.

Since Subban did his part in the four-game winning streak the Golden Knights enjoyed last week, it would have made more sense for Gallant to give Subban at least the rest of the week in starts to see how he handles the increased playing time. If Subban continued to play well with an increased role, it would give more clarity to the position as the season progresses.

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Hopefully, this decision doesn’t come back to haunt the Golden Knights since Subban has easily earned more playing time due to everything he did well over the last few weeks. Only time will tell but for now, the Golden Knights are making a mistake sitting Subban when it’s time to unleash him.

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