Hockey would never work in Las Vegas, the skeptics said. Too hot. The desert. The strip. The night life. Who would have time for hockey? Why would anyone want to go to a game?

Marc-Andre Fleury was why. He was the Vegas Golden Knights. He put the team on the map. He made them relevant. He damn near won them the Stanley Cup as a first-year team.

If you go to the Westgate Sportsbook in Vegas, you’ll still see the Golden Knights listed on the odds board among the leading Stanley Cup contenders. But this will be the first time in franchise history that Vegas will seek the silver of Lord Stanley’s mug without their golden goalie between the pipes. 

Is there life in Vegas beyond The Flower? That’s Fleury’s nickname but this flower who bloomed on top of a steady diet of frozen water is no more. In the summer, the Golden Knights traded Fleury to the Chicago Blackhawks, even though he was coming off the best season of his NHL career.

He posted career-bests in goals against average (1.98) and save percentage (.928) and won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender for the first time. Vegas, though, had a younger, cheaper version of Fleury in Robin Lehner – who, oddly enough, they acquired from Chicago.

Facing a salary cap crunch, the Golden Knights opted to move on from Fleury’s $7 million a year paycheck.

Life Without Flower

The Golden Knights reported to training camp and for the first time, Fleury’s smiling faces and his playful pranks were there waiting to brighten everyone’s day.

“(Fleury’s) been the heart and soul for quite a bit for our team and our organization,” left wing Jonathan Marchessault told the Las Vegas Journal-Review. “It’s going to be different, but it just shows you how unstable the world of hockey is. No one is safe out there. You have to stay on your toes and give your best every night.”

Even those who were only Fleury’s teammate for a brief time were energized by the electricity of the warmth he exuded.

“I feel very fortunate (that I was) able to play with him for the little bit that I did,” defenseman Nic Hague said. “He’s a guy that I grew up watching, watching him win his Cups. Just a great guy. He always had a smile on his face. He loves what he does. It’s definitely going to be a little bit different not having him around.”