The Vegas Golden Knights will claim Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Marc-Andre Fleury in the expansion draft after the Penguins agreed to sweeten the deal with a draft pick, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.
That was the price to be paid for the Golden Knights to select Fleury, who has two years remaining on a contract that carries a $5.75-million cap hit.
According to LeBrun, the Penguins were concerned the Golden Knights could pass on Fleury, given the amount of goaltenders made available in the expansion pool. That would have left the cap-crunched Penguins on the hook for Fleury's big-ticket deal.
According to Cap Friendly, the Penguins have just under $15 million in available cap space, a number that increases to more than $20 million with the exit of Fleury. But several Penguins are up for new deals, including Nick Bonino, Chris Kunitz, Conor Sheary, Trevor Daley, Brian Dumoulin, and Justin Schultz, among others.
Fleury - who carries a no-movement clause - required protection from the expansion draft before he agreed to a move to Vegas. The 32-year-old was a key piece in the Penguins' recent Stanley Cup win.
