The future of three-time Stanley Cup champion Marc-Andre Fleury with the Minnesota Wild is up in the air as the surefire Hall of Famer plays out the final few weeks of his contract.
Although it’s been widely speculated that the 39-year-old would retire after this season, the Quebec native’s latest comments tell a different story.
“The door is more open today for a return than it was in September or October,” Fleury revealed to NHL.com’s Jean-Francois Chaumont at the Wild’s practice facility in Saint Paul this week.
Fleury has been a well-admired goaltender throughout his career, and the revelation that he could remain active in 2024-25 will be music to the ears of many hockey fans.
Marc-Andre Fleury — age-40 season?
“I also thought it was going to be my last season,” he continued. “When we spoke this past summer, I was telling myself that I was preparing for one last year. But the mood has changed. [Training] camp wasn’t easy, my hips were hurting, we were losing games at the start of the season. I wasn’t playing the way I wanted. I ended up feeling better and I started playing better. I rediscovered the joy of playing hockey.
“For the first few months, I wasn’t finding it very fun. I had hip problems and the team was struggling. When I played in Montreal in mid-October, I was still being very honest. I’d said that I was going to wait until the end of the season before making a decision on my future. I’d invited my friends and family, just in case that was my last game at Bell Centre.”
Last fall, it truly looked like MAF was preparing for his final NHL campaign — especially as 2023-24 is the final season of the two-year, $7 million pact he inked before last year.
And Flower made it clear there’s only one place he’ll play if he does come back for one more.
“Yeah, it’s probably Minnesota or retirement,” Fleury told Chaumont. “I wouldn’t want to move and take my three kids out of their environment. They’ve moved enough already. I don’t want to uproot them. My girls have their school, their friends and their sports in Minnesota. And my wife Véronique is also happy here.”
Fleury helping Wild battle desperately for a playoff spot
Although it’s been an up-and-down season in Minnesota — and for Fleury on the ice — the Wild are still eight points back of the final wild card berth in the Western Conference with 10 games left.
It’s an uphill climb, to say the least, and it will most likely be a postseason-less spring in Saint Paul. But the prospect of Fleury returning to the team for one more year would be a silver lining.
“I’m more than open to the possibility of seeing him coming back for another season, 100 percent,” explained GM Bill Guerin. “We’ll talk about it in the next few days. He’s still having a good season. I think he’s still got hockey in him if he wants. There’s still some gas left in his tank.”
What once seemed like an impossibility is now looking likely: (at least) one more year of Marc-Andre Fleury.
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