Trade rumors swirl around Marc-Andre Fleury early in the season.

The Chicago Blackhawks and veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury have not gotten off to the start they would have wanted, and now as a result there has been a great deal of talk regarding the possibility of Fleury being traded.

The latest comes to us courtesy of National Hockey League insider Chris Johnston. While we have heard speculation that the Blackhawks and Fleury could be headed for a split, Johnston is the first to suggest that there are teams already weighing the possibility of trading for Fleury.

From Johnston:

There is already some trade interest in reigning Vezina Trophy winner Marc-André Fleury...

Perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that teams are interested in bringing in the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, but after a slow start to the season I would have expected teams to shy away. Fleury has made 8 appearances for the Blackhawks this season and played 423 minutes of hockey, but over that stretch he has an ugly 4.11 goals against average and an underwhelming .881 save percentage. Those are not the kind of numbers you want to see from your starter, especially not when he's eating up a whopping $7 million of salary cap space.

That being said Fleury has a long history as a solid goaltender at the NHL level and the teams considering a possible trade for him are no doubt gambling on the idea that he would bounce back on a better team.

As for whether or not the Blackhawks would be willing to give up on Fleury so early? After a horrible start to the season it wouldn't be a surprise, and recently Blackhawks insider Scott Powers indicated that Fleury is one of the two players he believes could be dealt mid-season.

From Powers:

The Blackhawks probably don’t have a lot of players they can move during the season, but there are some. Dominik Kubalik might have some value. He’s due another contract at end of the season and may not be in the long-term plans. Does someone want to bring in Fleury to bolster their goaltending?

Fleury is on an expiring contract and it now seems like a forgone conclusion that he will end the season playing somewhere other than Chicago.