Whereas his final NHL sport is behind him, future Corridor-of-Fame goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury isn’t hanging up the skates simply but. He instructed reporters throughout Monday’s end-of-season media availability that he’s accepted an invitation to affix Canada at this 12 months’s World Championship, through Michael Russo of The Athletic.
It’s unclear whether or not he plans on coming into any sport motion, however there’s an honest probability he may. Canada’s solely rostered one in all three goalies for the event thus far. That’s Rangers prospect Dylan Garand, who will doubtless function a No. 3 choice behind Fleury and one other NHL choice. The latter could possibly be the Blues’ Jordan Binnington after St. Louis was eradicated Sunday evening, however that’s hypothesis.
As for the 40-year-old Fleury, it’ll be his first time on the Worlds. Regardless of his prolonged listing of accolades, Fleury’s solely gotten the decision to play for the senior Canadian nationwide workforce as soon as. That was on the 2010 Winter Olympics, and he didn’t get into sport motion there because the third-stringer behind Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur. His unavailability for the Worlds has often been resulting from playoff obligations, however along with his Wild being bounced by the Golden Knights within the first spherical, he’s free to affix his countrymen in Denmark and Sweden. He did swimsuit up on the World Juniors in 2003 and 2004, posting a .923 SV% in 10 appearances en path to back-to-back silver medals.
He’s technically a gold-medal winner on that Olympic workforce, so a gold on the 2025 Worlds may make him the primary goaltender to achieve entry into the Triple Gold Club. The latest Canadian to enter the ranks was defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, because of his 2019 Stanley Cup win with the Blues.
Fleury, a first-overall choose and a three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Penguins, may even get to bookend his profession by being teammates with Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby as soon as once more. With Fleury’s lack of worldwide expertise, they haven’t been on the identical facet of a matchup since Vegas chosen Fleury from the Pens within the 2017 growth draft.
