“I was afraid of getting stuck in my shoes”

It’s not every year that the identity of the hope who will be claimed at the top of the draft is set in stone. In 2003, no one could have predicted the day before the draft that Marc-André Fleury would be the first to step onto the stage at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville.

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The reason is very simple. The Florida Panthers, lottery winners, were already betting on an excellent goalkeeper in the making in Roberto Luongo. In addition, only one masked man had been the very first choice in modern draft history, Rick DiPietro, selected in 2000 by the New York Islanders.

So even when the Penguins traded with the Panthers to get the very first pick in the minutes leading up to the draft, the young Sorelois didn’t see the slightest clue.

“I had seen the lists, but I didn’t know I was going to come out first,” says Fleury, joined last week by The newspaper, at his home in Las Vegas.

On this list, the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles goaltender’s name appeared first in the goalie column. However, the players had big names: Eric Staal, Dustin Brown, Thomas Vanek, Nathan Horton and Ryan Getzlaf topped the NHL recruiting center list.

“I had had good interviews with the Penguins, but even with the deal, I didn’t think I was going out first,” he says.

“I think my agent knew that,” he reflected 17 years later. But I had asked him not to tell me. I wanted to be surprised. “

In fact, by reviewing the report of this amateur auction and listening to the commentators, we see that Fleury is possibly the only one not to know that he will be the chosen one of the Penguins.

An impressive meeting

Surrounded by his father, his mother, his sister and the one who would become his wife, Fleury heard Craig Patrick, the general manager of the Penguins pronounce his name.

“I felt great pride. At the time, I did not realize it. The only thing I thought about was that I was afraid of getting stuck in my shoes when I got on the platform. “

Then, the sequence followed at a rate of hell. A row of the sweater, a visit to the Penguins’ table, successions of handshakes, photos taken and answers to numerous questions from journalists.

“It was going fast,” he says.

But in all this hubbub, a particular moment still grabs his attention today.

“It was the first time I met Mario Lemieux. That I would shake his hand, ”recalls the 35-year-old athlete.

Having become the owner of the team four years earlier, Lemieux had just played a full first season since his return to the game in 2000-2001. A striking meeting for the young man.

“I’m still impressed when I meet him today. So imagine at 18 ”, he confesses.

A foundation stone

If Lemieux had bought the team and put on his skates, it was among other things to restore prestige to this concession which was heading towards bankruptcy. Moreover, when selecting Fleury, the team was starting a complete reconstruction. Patrick did not hide it in the seconds following the selection of Fleury: “The best way to start is in front of the net. “

At the time, we never suspected that Evgeny Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Kristopher Letang would come to help Fleury quickly breathe new life into the Penguins. The ordeal could have been long.

“It didn’t scare me. I was just happy to hear my name, ”says Fleury, Stanley Cup champion in 2009, 2016 and 2017.

“At the same time, nothing was acquired yet. Nothing was owed to me just because I was drafted in the first row, he recalls. My dream was to play in the NHL. The draft was one more step towards that goal, but it was not yet the goal. “

An objective that he will have achieved with flying colors. Prior to being claimed by the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2018 expansion draft, Fleury played 691 games in the Penguins’ uniform, won 375 wins and recorded 44 shutouts. Three team records.