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ST. PAUL, Minn. – It’s hard to believe, but Marc-Andre Fleury — the second winningest goalie in NHL history , who has started the second-most games in NHL history — will make his 566th and possibly final regular-season home start of his career Wednesday night when the Minnesota Wild host the San Jose Sharks.
Advertisement Fleury hasn’t been told for certain, but after his conversation with the coaching staff Tuesday, he is at least assuming this start will be his last in front of the Wild crowd that has cheered him on the past four seasons before the playoffs begin. Fleury’s final regular-season start could come Saturday night in Vancouver. A couple buddies and family members, plus his longtime agent Allan Walsh, plan to rush to Minnesota for Wednesday’s game.
Unfortunately, because most figured next Tuesday’s season finale against the Anaheim Ducks would be Fleury’s final regular-season start, Fleury’s mother and sister, who were recently in the Twin Cities, just flew home to Quebec and can’t return for Wednesday’s game. But this won’t shock you: Fleury’s being just as professional about that as he has been during the past two months of limited playing time while the Wild have tried to ride Filip Gustavsson to a playoff spot. His mom and sister got to see his final starts in Montreal and Pittsburgh (both victorious) earlier this season and have seen him reach so many accolades before and during his time in Minnesota.
And despite only playing three times since his last win on Feb. 22 – Gustavsson has started 13 of the past 14 games — Fleury has not outwardly shown any disappointment despite the unceremonious way his career is coming to an end. He gets it.
“My role is to be backup and support Gus, and I’m fine with it,” Fleury said Tuesday during a sitdown with the local beat writers. name a better duo pic.twitter.
com/RzS2XR3arA — Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 8, 2025 There’s a chance next Tuesday’s game against Anaheim is a must-win, so the Wild don’t want to promise Fleury and the fans that he’s definitely starting against the Ducks. Another potential reason why the Wild decided to play Fleury against the Sharks is because Gustavsson is expected to start Friday in a critical game in Calgary. If Fleury were to start both the next night against the Canucks and in Tuesday’s finale against the Ducks, Gustavsson would have to start Game 1 of the playoffs with a minimum of eight days between starts.
Advertisement “The most important thing is the team and the team winning and the team having success,” Fleury said. “And I just feel the last few weeks have gone by so quick. We’ve been playing every other day, pretty much.
It’s like you play, you go on the ice a little bit, go home, get to rest a bit, and then play again. And keep doing it, travel in there and stuff. So I just feel like it flew by so quick.
And it’s like pressure games, stressful games, right. We’re so close to making the playoffs here. “Playing is always more fun.
You enjoy it more definitely. But I know my role. I know why I’m here for, and Gus has been amazing, very consistent, very good and is a fun guy to cheer for.
” This is why Fleury is admired by so many around the National Hockey League. You saw it a few weeks ago when Alex Ovechkin – one of Fleury’s longtime rivals from many head-to-head meetings between Washington and Pittsburgh – rushed to the tunnel after a loss to make sure his teammates didn’t leave the ice so they could congratulate Fleury for an illustrious career one by one at center ice. The always-jovial Fleury is one proud athlete, yet at age 40, he signed for one final year and accepted his role as Gustavsson’s backup to prioritize team success over personal accolades despite being on the cusp of retirement.
This is an man who has long been one of the game’s most beloved figures for his competitiveness on the ice, how he treats people off it and his unbridled love and enthusiasm for a sport that won’t be the same without him. And it’s why the Twin Cities chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association has selected Fleury as the Wild’s nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, presented annually to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. Advertisement This is the third time Fleury has been nominated since 2017.
He was a previous candidate with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vegas Golden Knights and was truly surprised to get the honor again. “I’ve had lots of ups and downs in my career, and I think that perseverance helped me ..
. try to bounce back after the tough moments,” Fleury said. “I love the game.
I’ve loved hockey since I’m a kid, I still do. Always feel very fortunate to be where I am today.” Fleury can’t believe how fast the past month has gone.
During training camp, he fielded lots of questions about his pending final season and made it clear he didn’t want a special sendoff in every city. But in the last month, as he departs arenas for the last time, he has tried to look around and take mental pictures as keepsakes. Now that he has four regular-season games left in his career – plus what he hopes is another postseason if the Wild can fend off the Flames — it’s finally hitting him.
“Just because, I don’t know, we’ve been talking about it for two years now, right? Even more, for me,” Fleury said. “But to actually be here and down the stretch (when) all season you’re like, ‘It’s only camp, it’s only Christmas, it’s only 4 Nations break’ ..
. it’s always felt like there’s a lot of time left. But now just a few (games), it’s kind of weird and little surreal.
It’s almost over already.” Fleury said this has been one special final season, especially because of the way opposing players and fans have treated him. He got special sendoffs in Montreal and Pittsburgh and acknowledgments during games in several places like Las Vegas and Chicago.
“I think they were all nice,” he said. “You can’t just pick one, right? Chicago, I wasn’t there long and people stood up and stuff. It’s always fun to see those old videos.
In Pittsburgh, I was there for so long, it was my team for so long. So it was weird to be there for one last time. The sendoff right from the fans, and even throughout the game, you know, the cheers and stuff.
We’re human, right? You get the goosebumps, the butterflies and all that stuff. It just brings back so many good memories. Advertisement “Montreal, too.
I think being in Quebec and having so much family there, having so many friends, too, and even like people from Montreal, it means a lot when you’re home, and people are so nice to go and show you so much love and respect. Even Ovi the other night. .
.. Honestly, I loved what Ovi did.
Like, we had so many battles, and he’s one of the best. Now the best (goal) scorer.” Fleury has 573 wins in 1,048 regular-season games.
His 92 playoff wins is tied for third all-time. And even this season, he got off to a terrific start with an 11-5-1 record through Jan. 30 with a 2.
59 goals-against average and .908 save percentage before losing four of five starts since Feb. 4.
What brings him the most joy? “Just coming into the rink with the boys,” he said. “It’s never too serious or, I guess, never too smart. I think everybody wants to have a laugh and keep things loose.
It’s so much pressure on the ice in winning and stuff, so (it’s important) we can have some fun and everything – the way we travel, the luxury of the plane, at the hotels. “I love the meals with the guys on the road, too. I think we always try to get a good group together and go for dinners and I’ll miss that for sure.
Practicing with them, trying to stop them and yelling at them, stuff like that. I always like it that way — I think it makes practice more fun and makes you try hard, too.” Fleury has enjoyed his time in Minnesota so much that he and his wife have decided to sell the dream retirement home they were building in Las Vegas and remain in Minnesota during the school years after his career ends.
He has not decided what he wants to do for a post-playing career other than he wants to remain in hockey with a future in management. Derek Stepan and Alex Goligoski have been around Bill Guerin in the GM’s booth all season and former NHLers Matt Hendricks, Brad Bombardir and Cody McLeod work for the Wild, so reading between the lines, it’s likely we won’t be seeing the last of Fleury with the Wild when his playing days are over. And that can only be a good thing.
Advertisement But, like Guerin’s done with Stepan and Goligoski, he’ll want Fleury to take some time to enjoy his post-retirement life and figure out what he wants to do in due time. “I think I want to be home more,” Fleury said. “I wanna be there for the kids’ birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, whatever.
I want to be there with them, and from there, I’ll talk to my wife, too. She’s sacrificed a lot for me to play hockey all these years. So see what interests her and we’ll see.
“I still gotta find something, though.” Previous Wild players nominated for the Masterton were Marco Rossi (2023-24), Mason Shaw (2002-23), Jared Spurgeon (2021-22), Matt Dumba (2020-21), Alex Stalock (2019-20), Ryan Suter (2018-19), Matt Cullen (2017-18), Eric Staal (2016-17), Nate Prosser (2015-16), Devan Dubnyk (2014-15), Josh Harding (2013-14, 2012-13), Clayton Stoner (2011-12), Pierre-Marc Bouchard (2010-11), Guillaume Latendresse (2009-10), Kurtis Foster (2008-09), Aaron Voros (2007-08), Marian Gaborik (2006-07), Wes Walz (2005-06, 2000-01), Alexandre Daigle (2003-04), Dwayne Roloson (2002-03) and Richard Park (2001-02). Harding won the trophy in 2013, Dubnyk won in 2015 and Dumba was a finalist in 2021.
(Top photo: David Berding / Getty Images).
