After serving as the backup for most of the playoffs, Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury indicated to reporters including Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link) after Friday’s series-ending loss to Dallas that he intends to fulfill the final year of his contract and not retire this summer. Russo notes (subscription link) that the veteran had indicated that he’d be open to hanging up his skates if he showed this season that he couldn’t play up to his standards. While Fleury didn’t have his best campaign, he still posted an above-average .908 SV% along with a 2.85 GAA in 46 games, clearly showing he can still compete at the top level. He’ll enter next season seven wins away from tying Patrick Roy for the second-most regular season victories in NHL history.
More from the Central:
- While Colorado is still alive in their first-round series, some are already looking ahead to what their offseason might look like. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli is one of those, suggesting that defenseman Samuel Girard could be the odd one out on the back end for the Avalanche with the team needing to fill as many as nine roster spots with not a ton of cap space to work with. The 24-year-old should be highly sought after if that happens as he’ll have four years left on his deal after this one at a $5MM AAV which is good value for someone consistently logging more than 21 minutes a night on the back end while chipping in offensively; he had a career-high 37 points this season.
- Jets forward Vladislav Namestnikov has certainly bounced around lately, playing for seven different teams since 2019. With that in mind, Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe wonders if Winnipeg offering the 30-year-old a multi-year extension would be enough to get the pending UFA to become a longer-term piece for the team instead of just being another rental. Namestnikov had 10 points in 20 games during the regular season after being acquired at the trade deadline while chipping in with a pair of assists in their five-game loss to Vegas.
It’s so funny how the media at this point is still in love with Fleury and they try to convince us he still has value. Funny and incredibly lazy journalism, Why can’t the media/Insider’s be honest and just say Fleury Is completely ineffective and that he clearly hung around waaaaaayyyyyyy to long?
Maybe because he hasn’t! He isn’t what he once was but as a 25 to 30 game 1-B goalie he can be effective and also a mentor to younger goalies. Gustavson has raved about the amount of help he has recieved from Fleury!
Won a Vezina two years ago. “Waaaaaaaaayyyyyy to long”.
I assume that statement is like “way to go” but with long instead of go to honor MAF’s longevity.
If we can’t keep Jarry, get MAF for one year to buy time. If there is a Wallstedt or Oettinger in this draft, do what it takes to get him.
Need to get rid of good ol’ Sammy Spin-O-Rama, the pizza server, and complement the D-corps with someone who knows the correct color of his own team’s sweaters, so turnovers can become minor “lost puck battles”, with less catrosphic consequence.
And, I have a slightly off-topic question for any forum members in the U.S. only. Are any of you experiencing problems accessing Sportsnet 590, 960, or 650, i.e., getting a vocal error message, instead of the live stream?
Can’t help you on the sportsnet issue, but I agree with you. That 5 mil could be a huge help elsewhere in the lineup and Girard is heavily overrated as it is, at least locally. One can hope that this season upped his trade value at least
@M34 – There’s a bit of irony, eh? Rooting for Sammy to excel in the playoffs, just to help get rid of him. Of course, if Santa delivers that wish for us, in, say, the summer months, we can get back to hating on him, in another sweater by the fall.
Blues sign him and platoon Binnington/Fleury. Would wouldn’t watch that??
No…on so many levels.
Wild was poor at penalty kill. Blame that on the goalie.
Would love to see Buffalo trade for him. He would be a great mentor for Levi.
@buffalobob88 – Now that Andy’s retired, that idea isn’t bad at all. Only issue is, of course, would Flower be willing?