Marc-Andre Fleury, one of the NHL’s more highly regarded goalies, is going to make a decision about retirement after going through the “ups and downs” of the coming season.
“I just told myself that I would give myself this season, see how it goes, see how I feel physically, mentally, if I can still stop the puck, and just make a decision at the end,” Fleury said Thursday. “I don’t want to think about it too much, like, every game. ‘It’s going good, I’ll play again, it’s going bad, I don’t want to play anymore,’ you know what I mean? There will be ups and downs this season. I just want to get through it and make a decision at the end.”
Fleury, 38, has won three Stanley Cups, the 2020-21 Vezina Trophy, an Olympic gold for Canada at the 2010 Winter Games and is third on the NHL’s all-time wins list, with 544, trailing only Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy.
Fleury is entering his second full season with the Minneosta Wild after a mid-season trade from the Blackhawks in 2021-22, and the final year of his two-year deal with an AAV of $3.5 million. He previously spent four seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights and 13 with the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he earned his three Cup rings.