Sunday might be the final time Marc-Andre Fleury skates inside T-Mobile Arena.
Fleury — the second-winningest goaltender in NHL history — has announced that this season will be his last. The three-time Stanley Cup champion and former Vezina Trophy winner will call it a career when his 21st NHL season wraps up.
The 40-year-old netminder will take the ice with the Minnesota Wild to face the Golden Knights on Sunday in the Wild’s only trip to Las Vegas this season.
Fleury became the undisputed face of the franchise when he was selected in the 2017 expansion draft from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The three-time Stanley Cup champion, after 13 seasons with Pittsburgh, came to the Knights with a chip on his shoulder as long as the Strip.
He became the most popular player the moment he walked the draft stage at T-Mobile Arena, and turned into one of the biggest reasons why the Knights found success early on.
“Just that first year, he came here as the face of the franchise, basically,” fellow Original Misfit and defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “He did such a good job with it. You never felt he was going to go anywhere else, right? He came in here and he handled everything well.”
Fleury helped lead the Knights to their improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final in their first year. He captured his first Vezina Trophy with the Knights in 2021, as well as the Jennings Trophy with goalie partner Robin Lehner.
It’ll be a final chance for fans to acknowledge Fleury for his contributions to the Knights, but it’ll be a bittersweet moment. The Wild, who are playing the second night of a back-to-back, are expected to start goaltender Filip Gustavsson after Fleury started against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
“Just an awesome guy,” defenseman Shea Theodore said. “It’s well-known around the league at how well he’s liked. We had a blast when he was here. He’s just such a good guy. I’m so happy for how well he’s played for how long.”
Ahead of his final trip to T-Mobile Arena, some of his former teammates spoke about the kind of person and teammate Fleury was:
McNabb
“He was just always a fantastic guy. That’s well-known. Every day was awesome to see him. Every time you saw him, he was smiling. It was a fun encounter every time. He was such a team player, always worried about the team first.”
Keegan Kolesar
“Just being around him, you’re kind of in awe. He’s got that aura to him. He’ll be a Hall of Famer. It was pretty cool that I got to play with a guy of that caliber, especially in my first year.”
Zach Whitecloud
“He epitomizes what you would want to find in a team guy. Always a part of things — dinners, team functions, organizing stuff, pranking — he just does everything in his day that brings a team together and makes everyone feel included. Those teams always tend to go far because everyone feels involved, everyone has a sense of importance and contribution to the team. He makes you feel important.”
Alex Pietrangelo
“We were in the All-Star Game (in Tampa in 2018). I think I was on the bench at the time. We were all having a bet of $20 on who was going to win, if I remember correctly, the Target Challenge. All the kids picked the players on who would win. One of my kids won, and the next time we played Vegas, Flower gave me the $20 to give to my kid. Best story ever.
“I didn’t even know him. I just knew him from playing in the All-Star Game. He owned up to it. Sums him up, right?”
Kolesar
“I shot pucks once on him in the playoffs, and he won (his start). And then from the rest of the playoff series, he was like, ‘You’re coming to shoot on me every day.’ It was pretty cool I got to be part of his superstition or his routine. It’s something that, will he remember? Probably not, but I’ll have that.”
Whitecloud
“When he won the Vezina, I can’t remember exactly what we were doing, but we were together as a team and I think they either gave him a heads-up, or we found out as a team. It was just really special because he’s obviously played since he was 18.
“When you play with a guy like that, you’re sitting there wondering, ‘How’s the league never given this guy the Vezina?’ Just being a part of it was special, and something that I’ll get to tell my kids and grandkids about is that I played with Marc-Andre Fleury.
“What’s really cool is, those little Vezina statues, he personalized one to me. There was a personal message on it and stuff like that. That’s one of the coolest things next to the Stanley Cup and stuff I have, that I keep in a special place. That’s one of those things where I’ll look at it every now and again.”
McNabb
“He embraced the community. Loved them. The organization, loved them, too. He was great. Just an unbelievable player and an unbelievable person. He deserves all the success he’s had.”
Pietrangelo
“Great teammate, great person. He loved all his teammates. Obviously legendary. I know he says it’s his last year, but you never know with Flower, right? I hope he gets a good ovation when he gets back here. He’s a big part of why we are where we are with this organization.”
Whitecloud
“He’s done so much for the game, and he’ll probably do so much (after) his career. The way he treats everyone — it doesn’t matter if you’re staff or part of the team, a general manager, or whatever. He takes time to say hi to people, and he genuinely cares about a lot of people. That’s one of the things I admire the most of that outside of his play.
“When I was a young guy, he took the time to sit and talk to me for however long. That meant a lot to me.
“When you talk to him, you know those people when you come across them — where the person genuinely cares about you. That makes you feel good.”
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
Up next
Who: Wild at Golden Knights
When: 5 p.m. Sunday
Where: T-Mobile Arena
TV: KMCC-34
Radio: KKGK (1340 AM, 98.9 FM)
Line: Knights -170; total 5½
