Report: Wild close door on trading pending UFA Fleury

Marc-Andre Fleury will not be traded by the Minnesota Wild prior to the March 8 trade deadline, Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic report, citing multiple sources.

The Wild are fighting to close ground in the playoff race, sitting six points back of the Nashville Predators for the final wild-card spot with one game in hand. Russo and Smith report Fleury will be staying put regardless of the result of Minnesota's four remaining games before the deadline. 

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 his most recent start, a 5-2 win over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday, stating postgame he wanted to stay the Wild.

“If we were last in the conference, maybe it’d be a little bit different,” Fleury told The Athletic. "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.”

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.

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. 

“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.”

The three-time Stanley Cup winner carries a cap hit of $3,5 million on his expiring deal.