The goalie was acquired by the Wild in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday for a conditional first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. He backed up Cam Talbot in Wild's prior two games.
"Obviously it's always different coming to a new team with new guys and new systems. It's not always easy," Fleury said Friday. "But you still want to do well, right? It's your first impression, especially at home with our fans and stuff. [I'll] try my best and hopefully things go well."
Fleury was 19-21-5 with a 2.95 goals-against average and .908 save percentage in 45 games with Chicago this season. He is third in NHL wins (511), behind Patrick Roy (551) and Martin Brodeur (691).
"We all know he's obviously world class, Hall of Fame, Stanley Cup goaltender. We all know that," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "To bring somebody in like that, and to know [Talbot] and to know him and what they are as teammates, he's trusted and knows that it's going to work because of that. …They can do it together too, right? We talk about our players all the time, and it's not one guy on our hockey club that's scoring.
"… We're not changing our philosophy because we've got Marc-Andre Fleury here. We're going to evaluate (starting goalies) after every game. We're going game by game. We'll evaluate how that goaltender played, how he's played a lot of different elements, and we'll make a call on who's going to play."
The Wild (38-20-4) were second in the Central Division, one point ahead of the St. Louis Blues and two points ahead of the Nashville Predators. Talbot, who has won seven straight starts, will play against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.
"Fleury, he's my favorite goalie all-time," Minnesota forward Kevin Fiala said. "I wanted to be a goaltender because of him when I was young watching the Pittsburgh Penguins all the time, [Sidney] Crosby, Fleury, just two of my favorites. So just looking at him, he's in our locker room, it's not realistic kind of.
"Every time I got to the [NHL], I felt like I struggled to score on him. Maybe [I'm] a little starstruck. I don't know. But he's a great goalie. He reads the play. He's like a defenseman out there; it feels like he sometimes jumps out. You can see him doing stuff like that. It's great to have him on our side. I had so many chances last playoffs against him. I just scored one goal. Great thing to have him on our side."
Fleury said it's humbling to hear praise from his new teammates and hopes to take that first step in helping their playoff push.
"I think everybody knows that we're going to try to make a run here, and it's exciting," the 37-year-old said. "Everybody's excited. But you've got to play toward [the playoffs], right? You keep building your game and where you want to be. It's not that easy. … It's a full season workload to get there. Obviously, the last little stretch is important."
