The Chicago Blackhawks agreed to trade goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a conditional second-round draft pick, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Chicago will retain 50% of Fleury’s salary.
BREAKING: Hearing #Blackhawks are trading Marc-Andre Fleury to #mnwild. Sounds like conditional 2nd round pick that can become a 1st for CHI.@DailyFaceoff
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 21, 2022
Per Seravalli, the second-round pick will transform into a first-round pick if Minnesota reaches this year’s Western Conference Final and Fleury wins four or more games in the first two rounds.
Chicago Blackhawks Trade Marc-Andre Fleury
The Blackhawks completed this trade ahead of the 2022 trade deadline. It comes with little to no surprise, considering their spot near the bottom of the standings this season. Fleury maintained his focus throughout the noise, helping Chicago win games. However, the 37-year-old ultimately had no shot at a championship with them this season.
The Wild acquired the future Hall-of-Famer from the Hawks. Fleury carries a $7 million cap hit and becomes a UFA after this season. The netminder spent his entire NHL career between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vegas Golden Knights before Chicago acquired him this past summer.
Key Players
From the trade for Marc-Andre Fleury, the Wild receive an elite NHL goalie and former first overall draft selection from 2003. This season marks his first sub-.500 season in nearly two decades. Despite struggling with the win column, Fleury still posted a respectable save percentage and goals-against average. He also owns a .553 quality start percentage. Long story short: Chicago’s woes have nothing to do with Fleury’s performance between the pipes.
Fleury isn’t getting any younger, though. He still has treads on the tire, as evidenced by his performance on a weak Blackhawks team this season. His new club should be ecstatic for everything “The Flower” brings their way.
What This Means for the Future
In Chicago, the move does not alter the current plan too much at all. They went into this season expecting to rebuild, and remain on that path. Fans thought bringing in Fleury, as well as Seth Jones, plus Jonathan Toews returning from last year’s absence, spelled “win-now” mode. But, the front office restated their plans to rebuild and the team never excelled above that expectation anyways.
For Fleury, this could be the start of something special, yet again. He surprised the hockey world when he did what he did in Vegas, and certainly has the work ethic and determination to do something of that calibre all over again. He could be the difference a team needs to win it all, and surely Fleury hopes that to be the case.
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