Marc-Andre Fleury reached a milestone when he played in his 1,000th NHL game, a 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday. Now the Minnesota Wild goalie is looking to hit another big number.
The 39-year-old is expected to start and go for his 551st win, which would tie him with Patrick Roy for second-most among goalies in NHL history, when the Wild host the Calgary Flames on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; BSWI, BSN, SNW).
Martin Brodeur has the most wins in NHL history with 691. He’s also played in the most games by a goalie (1,266).
Fleury, who is in the final season of the two-year, $7 million contract he signed with the Wild on July 8, 2022, is now 550-320-91 with two ties and a 2.59 goals-against average, .912 save percentage and 73 shutouts in 1,000 games (972 starts) with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Vegas Golden Knights, Chicago Blackhawks and Wild. He won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2009, 2016 and 2017.
“I have always been impressed by Marc-Andre. He has such a beautiful personality, always smiling, always happy -- we’re all different, aren’t we -- challenging his teammates in practice,” said Roy, who won the Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1986 and 1993 and Colorado Avalanche in 1996 and 2001.
“He seems to enjoy being on the ice. This is his approach; he has such a beautiful approach to the game and I’m happy to see him where he is. It's fun to see someone be as resilient as he is and performing the way he is. I’m glad for him.”
Fleury is the fourth goalie to play in at least 1,000 NHL games, along with Brodeur, Roy (1,029) and Roberto Luongo (1,044). Each is from Quebec, and Fleury seems certain to follow his three fellow Quebecois into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Roy was inducted in 2006, Brodeur in 2018 and Luongo in 2022.
“It’s pretty special,” said Luongo, who had 489 wins, fourth among NHL goalies, playing with the New York Islanders, Vancouver Canucks and Florida Panthers.
“I think most of it comes because of the fact that we grew up watching Patrick Roy play for the Montreal Canadiens and goalie coach Francois Allaire running his goalie schools in Quebec and teaching the innovative butterfly style back in the day.”
Fleury said while playing street hockey as a kid, he’d usually pretend to be Roy or Brodeur.
“Roy obviously won the Cup, (I) got to see him play, and (he) brought in the butterfly, which I learned at a younger age, and I love his determination, his hunger to win,” Fleury said. “Brodeur was a guy that was more unpredictable on the ice. He would sometimes butterfly, sometimes one knee down, sometimes two-pad stack, poke-check, you know, and you see him smile too when he was playing. That was pretty cool, so those two guys.”
Fleury was the No. 1 pick by the Penguins in the 2003 NHL Draft. Asked if there was a rivalry between him and Fleury when he entered the League, Brodeur, the No. 2 pick by the Devils in the 1990 draft, said, “I was just curious about his game.”
“It's something that when you play in the NHL, you don't really pay attention on draft day. It doesn't really matter to you as much than as it does now when I'm watching guys play but it was fun to know there was a French-Canadian guy going No. 1,” he said.
“I met him back then. It was at the Continental Airlines Arena. They came in at the Stanley Cup Final (when the Devils were playing the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim). That's when they always bring in the top prospects and that's when I met Marc-Andre for the first time.”
They played head-to-head 34 times in the NHL. Brodeur was 24-9-1 with a 2.19 GAA, .920 save percentage and four shutouts and Fleury was 10-21-3 with a 2.73 GAA, .905 save percentage and two shutouts.
“And next thing you know, the rest is history,” Brodeur said. “He played for Pittsburgh, so definitely, that was more of a rivalry (New Jersey vs. Pittsburgh) than the fact he was French-Canadian, that's for sure.”
Fleury has had a tremendous NHL career and he’s not done yet. To be among the greats, some of whom he idolized, is special for him.
“It's crazy, crazy,” he said. “Obviously when I was younger, I never thought I could actually make it to NHL but then once I was there, I was just happy to play that first game and that was a dream come true and then getting the Cup obviously was the second thing, maybe that was the biggest thing for me. I haven't really thought about, like, personal stats along the way. Just trying to win one night at a time.”
NHL.com senior draft writer Mike G. Morreale, columnist Dave Stubbs and independent correspondents Jessi Pierce and Kevin Woodley contributed to this report
