It’s time to end all the retirement speculations on Marc-Andre Fleury’s career in the NHL. The veteran goalie is expected to man the net for the Chicago Blackhawks after all, as reported by Frank Servalli of Daily Faceoff:
Marc-Andre Fleury has informed the #Blackhawks that he intends to play this upcoming season.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) August 1, 2021
Fleury was traded to the Blackhawks from the Vegas Knights late last July in exchange for Mikael Hakkarainen. His landing in Windy City caused Fleury to ponder on his future in the NHL, with his agent saying that the netminder needed to speak with his family to determine whether he still wants to continue taking the ice. It was a surprising development, to say the least, but an understandable one.
Fleury had just won his first-ever Vezina Trophy — given to the league’s best goalie — after leading Vegas to another deep run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They were stopped by the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup semifinals, however, despite being the favorites to win that series, with Fleury showing some cracks in that series to the point that he was replaced as the team’s starter by Robin Lehner in two of the team’s last two games.
Fleury, who finished the 2020-21 NHL season with a record of 26-10-0 to go along with a 1.98 GAA and .928 SV%, should effectively boost the Blackhawks’ defense that gave up the seventh-most goals per game last season.
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