Marc-Andre Fleury had the chance to catch up with his friends and former teammates when he returned to Pittsburgh and it was heartwarming to watch.
From that clip alone, you can tell how close Fleury is with his former teammates, especially Sidney Crosby, and in a recent article, we got a little glimpse of how incredible of friends the two are.
Michelle Crechiolo, a reporter for the Penguins, wrote an incredible piece about the superstitions of Penguins players have and one superstition involved Crosby and Fleury.
When Fleury was a member of the Penguins, he and Crosby always sat beside each other on the plane. Before he was selected by the Golden Knights in the expansion draft, Fleury occupied the seat beside Crosby for the first 12 seasons of Sid's career.
"He wasn't a card player and he liked to play SoCom, we started off playing SoCom pretty young," Crosby said. "I don't know, I think I just liked being by a goalie. I don't know why (we started sitting together). It was probably me (laughs). I think he liked the window, I liked an aisle. I don't know which one it was, but it was probably a handful of reasons why."
With Fleury gone, Crosby explained how it's been this season without him on plane rides.
"It's been different," Crosby admitted with a smile. "Usually you're breaking down something. When you're sitting beside somebody, you're either talking about the game or an upcoming game, just life in general. It's a little weird the first few flights when you've got an empty chair next to you and you're used to either listening to someone tell you about something or you're used to spilling your guts out, one of the two."
What makes this heartwarming superstition so much better, as per Michelle, is that Crosby has left that seat that Fleury previously occupied open and Fleury has done the same with his new team.
We're not crying, you're crying.
That right there is friendship (and superstition) at its finest and it's one of the reasons why hockey is so great.
Yes, everyone is playing for the ultimate prize, but you get to do it with your brothers and even if you don't win, you forge friendships that clearly last a lifetime.
(H/T: Michelle Crechiolo, Penguins)
