The Vegas Golden Knights said one final goodbye to the original face of their franchise.
After eliminating the Minnesota Wild in six games on Thursday, the team lined up for the traditional post game handshakes and made a special stop for Marc-Andre Fleury.
The veteran of 21 NHL seasons announced he would retire at the end of the Wild's season. Fleury was the marquee pick of the Golden Knights expansion draft in 2017. He immediately led them to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season. He would win the Vezina Trophy for them in 2021.
Fleury's time in Vegas was his second act, after the original included being the No. 1 pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins and winning the Stanley Cup twice there.
His time with the Wild was the logical conclusion to a legendary career. His final game at XCel Energy Center, which included fans chanting his name after the game, was poignant.
“Emotional... I think you see a guy’s career at the end of it and you kind of do like a little quick flash by of what you’ve gone through personally and you hope you never get to that point and hope you can play this game as long as he has," said Wild forward Marcus Foligno. "We’re all very fortunate in this room to have played with him.”
“It’s probably so hard for him, you know?" said Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov. "It was nice to play with him in my career a little bit for a couple of seasons together. We can learn so much stuff from him, how we need to be working and to be better, and same in the life, just in the ice, outside of the ice too. I don’t know what to say. He’s had an unbelievable career. Won a couple Stanley Cups. One of the best goalies in the world for all time... Amazing career.”
"There’s nothing much you can express what he means to our team and how good of a professional he is, and a Hall of Famer," Wild forward Ryan Hartman said. "To be able to witness all that stuff for him in Montreal – his last game in Montreal. It’s hard. You want to do things for him too because it‘s his last year. He’s a hall of famer. It was a pleasure to play with him."
- NHL.com director of editorial Shawn Roarke contributed to this report.
