PITTSBURGH _ Neither Mathieu Garon nor Marc-Andre Fleury could sleep.
Next door from their downtown Detroit hotel room for the 2009 Stanley Cup final, a boisterous group of Red Wings fans were whooping it up. So much so that it kept the Penguins goaltending roommates from their afternoon nap.
With about 10 minutes to spare before the team bus would leave for Joe Louis Arena, Garon said Fleury filled their garbage can with water, leaned it against the noisemakers' door, knocked, and the two took off in a mad dash.
"He said, 'I'm going to get them back.' " Garon recalled by phone recently, unable to hide his laughter at the event now more than seven years ago.
The incident was one of probably hundreds or thousands of times that Fleury has made his teammates smile over the past 13-plus years, and that's one of the reasons Fleury is arguably Pittsburgh's most beloved sports superstar since Jerome Bettis.
But hockey is a ruthless business. Times change. Money matters. The Penguins are staring down an expansion draft for the NHL's new Las Vegas franchise, and they likely don't want to lose Matt Murray, their 22-year-old, Cup-winning goaltender.
Those who know Fleury best, his backups over the years, they've been watching the situation unfold, too. This story is about what they think, and it goes something like this:
Nobody has had a more likable or genuine teammate. Whether it's here or elsewhere, they wish most for "Flower" to be happy. Fleury's good-natured handling of this situation has proven why he's so well-liked. And the legacy he'll leave behind is one filled with plenty of laughter.
"It's hard for me to think about _ almost like Marty Brodeur _ him in a different jersey," Garon said. "If it happens, it's going to be weird, but I wish the best for him. If he wants to stay in Pittsburgh, I hope he finishes his career there. If he wants to be a No. 1 somewhere else and play more, I hope it happens for him.
"Either way, what he left behind in Pittsburgh will be pretty amazing, the fact that he played there for so long. It's sad in sports. You can be the best player or whatever, but you get older and there's always young guys pushing you.
"Whatever happens to him, I know he's going to be a fan favorite forever in Pittsburgh."
