Wild G Fleury shuts down trade talk: 'I want to be here'
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It appears veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury could be off the trade market as the Minnesota Wild push for the playoffs amid a strong stretch of play.
Fleury, 39, is a pending unrestricted free agent and controls his own destiny with a full no-move clause. He stopped 30 of 32 shots faced in Saturday's 5-2 win over the Seattle Kraken as the Wild improved to 7-2-1 in their past 10 games.
“If we were last in the conference, maybe it’d be a little bit different,” Fleury told The Athletic after the victory. “But this is my team. We’ve been battling together, right? I take pride in winning with this team. I want us to make the playoffs. That’s my first priority.
"I think being in the hunt, it’s fun, it’s challenging. And I want to be here and see this team make the playoffs.”
The Wild continue to sit outside the playoff picture, four points back of the Nashville Predators for the final wild-card spot with one game in hand. Minnesota has reached the playoffs in each of the past four seasons - and 10 of the past 11 years - but have advanced past the first round just twice since 2013, failing to win a playoff series since 2015.
“I don’t want to just quit, right?” Fleury added. “I like this. I like the guys. It’s a great bunch of guys. When you’re so close, you want to do it all for each other. It’s been fun lately winning a bit more too.”
Fleury has a 12-10-3 record this season with a .899 save percentage and a 2.92 goals-against average. He is in his third season with the Wild, having been acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks ahead of the trade deadline in 2022.
The three-time Stanley Cup winner carries a cap hit of $3,5 million on his expiring deal.