NHL: Marc-Andre Fleury & Sidney Crosby – Source: Imagn
Marc-Andre Fleury still has a little bit of gas left in the tank.
The Minnesota Wild were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Thursday night following a Game 6 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Everyone thought that was it for the legendary netminder’s professional hockey career. However, Fleury has surprised the hockey world with news that he will be joining Team Canada at the 2025 IIHF World Championships.
This means he’ll be reuniting one final time with former Penguins teammate and good friend Sidney Crosby. Fleury and Crosby spent 12 seasons together in Pittsburgh, enjoying tremendous success, which included three Stanley Cup championships and a friendship that will last a lifetime.
TSN hockey insider Chris Johnston shared the news that agent Allan Walsh broke on Monday afternoon on X (formerly Twitter).
“He’s not done yet! Flower reunites with Sidney Crosby on Team Canada,” Johnston wrote.
Fleury just completed the lone season on his one-year, $2,500,000 contract extension with the Minnesota Wild, signed in 2024. The 40-year-old was still one of the better backups in the NHL this season, putting up a 14-9-1 record, with a 2.93 goals against average, .899 save percentage, and one shutout.
Marc-Andre Fleury had a funny description of the decision to join Team Canada
In typical Marc-Andre Fleury fashion, he had a hilarious way to describe the decision to play for Canada at the Worlds.
Fleury shared the news with the media on Friday. The Minnesota Wild shared the clip with his comments on X.
“Yeah, after we lost that night, I was like, I’m done, you know. But a couple of days goes by, and I was like, yeah, I think that would be pretty cool… So just a little longer, right? I don’t know, I went home, my kids were crazy, I was like jeez, I gotta keep playing again,” Fleury said.
Crazy enough, this will be Marc-Andre Fleury’s first World Championship appearance. He will likely be expected to start for Canada, who initially had no NHL experience in the net with Dylan Garand and Carter George.
Team Canada’s tournament opening game against Team Slovenia will go down on Saturday, May 10. The puck drops at 6:20 a.m. EST at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.