The Minnesota Wild acquired goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a conditional second-round pick in this year's NHL Draft. Should the Wild reach the third round of the NHL playoffs and Fleury has had at least four wins in the first two rounds, the return will be upgraded to a first-round pick.
Fleury was by far the biggest name available on the trade market in terms of netminders, so this is a solid move for the Wild. The 2021 Vezina Trophy winner has posted a .908 save percentage through 45 games with the Blackhawks this season and is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Let's take a look at how the trade breaks down for the Blackhawks and Wild.
Blackhawks-Wild Marc-Andre Fleury Trade
Chicago Blackhawks
Hanging onto Fleury obviously wouldn't have made sense for Chicago, given that he'll be an unrestricted free agent this summer and the Blackhawks aren't getting near the playoffs anyways. Moving Fleury for assets was the right course of action, it was just a matter of how big of a return they could get back.
The Blackhawks did have some things working against them when it came down to structuring a deal for Fleury though. The netminder had a partial no-trade clause but more than that, it seemed like the Blackhawks really wanted to make sure Fleury was heading somewhere that he wanted to be. This limited the number of potential trade partners that Chicago had to work with.
Then even though it has to be factored in that Fleury was on a poor team, his .908 save percentage this season is still nothing particularly special. Fleury's stock was never going to dip too far by the deadline, based on his name value, recent success and playoff track record, but his stats alone with Chicago weren't excellent. There was also his $7 million cap hit – even though the Blackhawks were able to retain 50 per cent of his salary, not every team would be able to acquire Fleury without making other moves to clear space.
It was still somewhat surprising there wasn't a later pick or a prospect also attached in the package, given that Fleury was the top goalie available. All things considered though, a second-round pick is still pretty fair value. Then with there being the potential that it could become a late first-round pick, as well as the fact that the Blackhawks got Fleury basically for free last summer, they got a decent return here.
Blackhawks Grade: B
Minnesota Wild
In trading for Fleury, Minnesota gets a major upgrade in net. This is possibly the best the Wild team we've ever seen and they look like a legitimate contender this season – now's the time to try to load up for a deep playoff run.
The tandem of Cam Talbot and Kaapo Kahkonen was serviceable but not necessarily a duo you'd want to rely on for saves against the league's top teams. Fleury is a Stanley Cup champion who's been through countless deep playoff runs and he was by far the best netminder available. Adding Fleury also gave Minnesota the opportunity to move Kahkonen for defensive help, sending him to the San Jose Sharks for Jacob Middleton.
As for what they gave up, a second-round pick for a big improvement in an important area is worth it. Then if the pick does turn into a first rounder, it means the Wild made a deep playoff run and the pick's a late one anyways, so the trade was probably justified to begin with.
The Wild have a good pool of young talent and really haven't moved many high draft picks yet. They haven't sacrificed their ability to build for later and this is a deal the team can afford – the Wild have had limited success as an organization and adding Fleury was a necessary move to take the next step.
While moving high draft picks should always be handled carefully, it's not like the Wild gave up too much here. It's a reasonable price and risk to take for a key short-term upgrade.
Wild Grade: B+
Overall, this is a deal that works out well for both teams. The Wild get a big upgrade in net and Chicago got a good pick back to help build for the future. Some may say the Blackhawks could've gotten more here but a second-round pick with potential upside is fair. Even though salary was obviously the main factor in Fleury being dealt by the Vegas Golden Knights last summer, for Chicago to get Marc-Andre Fleury just for taking on his contract and then flip him for a key asset about eight months later is a win.
There's also just the fact that Marc-Andre Fleury gets another run at a Stanley Cup – he's one of the best goalies of the last two decades and for him to get another chance for a deep playoff run in a move that also ends up benefitting both sides is nice to see.
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