In honor of the Minnesota Wild’s Native American Heritage Night, taking place on Friday as the Wild host the Colorado Avalanche, goaltender Marc-Andrew Fleury planned on wearing a custom-designed mask made by Indigenous artist Cole Redhorse Taylor. This was in part due to Fleury wanting to honor his wife Veronique, who is Indigenous.
According to Fleury’s agent Allan Walsh, the league threatened to hit the goaltender and the Wild organization with a “significant fine” if he wore the mask.
Fleury is 3-4-2 with an .875 save percentage in nine appearances in 2023-24. Fleury is in his third season with the Wild and his 20th season in the NHL. In 994 career games, Fleury has a record 547-319-93 record with a .912 save percentage.
The NHL has dealt with a number of controversies in the last year regarding causes. The league announced in the summer that it banned themed-warmup jerseys in reaction to several players refusing to wear Pride-themed sweaters during the 2022-23 season.
Last October, the league sent a memo to all 32 teams saying that, while teams were allowed to celebrate causes, it put a ban on players putting Pride tape on their sticks in warmups, games and practices.
The league rescinded the decision just two weeks later after Arizona Coyotes defenseman Travis Dermott defied the ban and taped his stick with Pride tape.
“You don’t really want to go against rules that are put in place by your employer, but there’s some people who took some positive things from it,” Dermott told gophnx.com’s Craig Morgan.
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