As the Minnesota Wild continue to struggle, trade rumors are beginning for goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. A day after he passed Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy for second on the NHL’s all-time wins list, Wild general manager Bill Guerin addressed Fleury’s future in Minnesota on Tuesday.
Guerin said he thinks that chatter is “premature” and wants to give Fleury and the Wild time to improve before ultimately making some decisions before the March 8 trade deadline.
“And I think Flower just wants to focus on his team right now and his play,” Guerin said, per Pierre LeBrun. “We’ll see how it goes and then we’ll have the appropriate conversations.
“It’s just too early for that, and I’m not ready and I’m sure Flower isn’t ready to have that conversation either.”
Fleury is in his second full season with the Wild after being traded to Minnesota in March 2022. He’s started 19 games for the Wild this season and played in 22, recording a 2.97 goals against average and .897 save percentage.
Fleury recorded his first shutout of the season on Monday against the New York Islanders, adding more excitement to his 552nd NHL win. That win came two weeks after he appeared in his 1,000th NHL game.
Will teams be interested in Fleury?
Though his numbers aren’t what they used to be, Marc-Andre Fleury still appears to have a little bit left in the tank. He has five games with 30 or more saves this season and has plenty of confidence after his first shutout of 2024.
The 39-year-old is in the final year of a two-year contract in his 20th NHL season. Having moved three times in the last seven years, it’s unclear if Fleury would be open to relocating for three or four months.
How the Wild fare over the next six weeks will play a role in where Fleury is playing come March 8. He has to approve a trade to any team and LeBrun suggests that he likely wouldn’t leave Minnesota for a contending team unless he was guaranteed some playing time. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes were mentioned as potential landing spots by Lebrun.
The Wild enter the second half of the season toward the bottom of the Western Conference standings. Only five teams have fewer points than Minnesota’s 41, though the Wild are much closer to a playoff spot them they are to the basement of the league.
Minnesota enters Wednesday’s action nine points out of a playoff spot. That is not an impossible hill to climb, but seven teams are separating the Wild from a playoff spot and they haven’t exactly been playing inspiring hockey as of late, winning just two of their eight games so far in January.
Several teams could use the leadership and veteran presence of Marc-Andre Fleury, but it remains to be seen if he’ll be traded by the Wild.
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