Fleury of Wild named Unmasked Goalie of the Year

Marc-Andre Fleury is on the verge of playing in his 1000th NHL game and needs one more win to move into a tie for second on the all-time list.

For those reasons, and countless others, the Minnesota Wild goalie is the 2023 Unmasked Goalie of the Year, winning the award for the second time in its six-year history.

Fleury played his 998th game Dec. 23, a 3-2 win against the Boston Bruins that was also his 550th victory, one behind Patrick Roy for second in NHL history, trailing Martin Brodeur (691).

He played in his 999th game when the Wild lost at the Winnipeg Jets, 4-3 on Saturday, making nine saves in relief of Filip Gustavsson, and is expected to appear in game No, 1,000 against the Jets at home on Sunday.

Fleury would join Brodeur (1,266), Roberto Luongo (1,044) and Roy (1,029) as the goalies to reach an increasingly elusive milestone.

“It might become one of the most exclusive lists in all of hockey,” Vancouver Canucks goalie Casey DeSmith said.

With the ongoing evolution toward teams relying more on tandems and the cap on games played even for workhorse No. 1s seemingly dropping each year, it’s getting harder and harder to imagine another goalie reaching 1,000 games.

Gone are the days of goalies playing 70 or more games in a season, something Brodeur did 12 times. Fleury never reached the 70-game plateau but played more than 60 games seven times with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2006-15, then once more with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2018-19.

Despite not playing quite as often each season as the others on the 1,000-game list, Fleury is going to get there in part because of how early he started -- breaking into the NHL as an 18-year-old, another achievement increasingly unlikely to be repeated -- and how long he’s played.

That longevity is a big part of what makes the 39-year-old such a worthy recipient of another Unmasked Goalie of the Year Award.

Though he hasn’t performed at quite the same level as he did when he won it in 2021 with the Golden Knights after also claiming his first Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie, Fleury continues to play at a high level with the Wild while being a mentor to his playing partner and serving as an inspiration to a generation of younger goalies.

Fleury’s current .892 save percentage is the lowest of his NHL career, even after he’s gone 3-0-1 with a .925 save percentage since John Hynes replaced Dean Evason as Minnesota coach Nov. 27. But the struggles partly have been because of a defensive decline in front of the Wild goalies earlier this season. According to Clear Sight Analytics, a company founded by former NHL goalie Steve Valiquette to measure shot quality using 34 variables, Fleury has outperformed his defensive environment by plus-1.3 percent this season, which tied him with Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets for 15th in the NHL entering Wednesday.

Fleury’s continued success is a big part of what makes him a worthy two-time recipient of an award created to recognize not only individual excellence at the position, but also themes that dominate the conversation about goaltending during the previous 12 months.

It isn't always the goalie who wins; it could be one who starts a statistical revolution, develops an equipment innovation or pioneers a new save technique.

Fleury checks a lot of those boxes through his never-ceasing attempts to improve his game.

Even in his 20th NHL season, he is evolving, right down to his stick. Fleury, who was among the last to switch from wood to a composite stick, added a custom grip this season, an idea he got after noticing that a stick he’d received from former Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price was shaved down.

“I always felt a little stuck with my thumb and then I felt like my stick was farther from my butterfly,” Fleury said of the grip, which features a reversed curve on the thumb side of his blocker. “So now I feel like the stick is a little shorter, it’s closer to the pad.”

Fleury leads the way in other innovative practices. He was the first goalie to use strobe glasses as part of his pregame warmup, catching balls thrown by a trainer as the blinking glasses cut in and out to take away his vision.

“After you've done it for about four-five minutes everything feels a little clearer, your eyes are a little more sharp,” Fleury said of a routine now copied by Gustavsson. “Something I tried, something I liked, so I keep doing it.”

That’s how Fleury always approaches his game. The willingness to try new things is key to playing so well for so long.

Fleury made major changes to his post play midway through his time with the Penguins (2003-17) by adding the reverse-VH technique. During his one season with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2021-22, he adopted another option for managing sharp-angle plays called overlap after learning it from playing partner Kevin Lankinen.

“Always trying to get better, trying to follow the game,” Fleury said. “We've seen how quick the game has become and more side-to-side plays whereas before it was down the wing [trying to stop a slap shot] with a wood stick. … So there's always adjustments I try.”

Adding new elements for more than two decades helps Fleury embrace another evolving trend in goaltending: unpredictable save selections to throw off shooters who have become increasingly adept at exploiting any overused techniques. 

Fleury mixes old-school poke checks and pad stacks with his modern saves.

“In my head I think [it helps], and it's more fun,” he said. “We always do the same over and over for all these years, all those practices. I love the athleticism in a goalie and I love making those saves. I try to surprise them once in a while, but obviously, to be consistent, I don't think you can be diving around the whole time and [using] two-pad stacks and stuff. But once in a while, throw it out there.”

That part about it being fun is another reason Fleury warrants another Unmasked Goalie of the Year nod. 

Whether it’s chirping teammates in practice or opponents in games, or being the only NHL goalie to play Last Puck, a battle drill at the end of warmups, even when he’s starting, enjoyment has always been a foundation for Fleury.

“It's something my dad always told me, since I was a kid,” Fleury said of his father, Andre, who died in 2019. “He always told me, throughout my career, 'Just have fun. That's when you play good.’ That's why I love Last Puck because it's just a battle, everybody against you and just diving around, whatever you can do to keep the puck out. I’ve just always loved it.”

PAST WINNERS

• Linus Ullmark, 2022
• Marc-Andre Fleury, 2021
• Andrei Vasilevskiy, 2020
• Robin Lehner, 2019
• Pekka Rinne, 2018