The goalie trade market is pretty scarce, so some NHL teams have reached into the recent past.
And while retired Marc-Andre Fleury is flattered by the attention, he says he plans to stay retired.
‘I had some calls and I took the time to think about it,’ he recently told USA TODAY’s Sports Seriously. ‘It’s very nice of them to think of me in that way, very flattering, but then at the end of the day, I stopped playing for some reasons. I thought it was better to just stay on the sidelines.’
Fleury hung up his skates after 21 seasons in 2025, finishing with three Stanley Cup titles, a Vezina Trophy and the second most regular-season wins in NHL history (575). Since the playoffs ended for the Minnesota Wild, he played for Canada in the world championships and for one period and a shootout of a preseason game with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but now his focus is on a post-playing life.
He’s enjoying the freedom of having more time but says there are other times when he misses playing.
‘I miss the guys, I miss the competition, I miss battling as a team trying to win a game and the feeling that you get when you win a game,’ he said.
But he’s finding plenty to do. He’s coaching his 6-year-old, he’s playing tennis, has driven a race car, tried some boxing and he went skiing, which he wouldn’t be able to do under an NHL contract. He has a partnership with Kraft Hockeyville, which brings a preseason NHL game to a small community and helps refurbish rinks. He occasionally puts on the goalie pads, as his agent, Allan Walsh, posted on Thursday.
He’ll be watching as NHL players return to the Olympics for the first time since 2014. Being a Quebec province native, he’s choosing Canada to win, though he also said the USA and Sweden have solid teams.
‘I just think it will be great hockey,’ he said. ‘I think it will be fun to watch, so many good teams and players out there. You never know in a tournament. It’s not a best of seven, it’s one game, so crazy things can happen. It can go different ways.’
Fleury was also paying attention when Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky and San Jose’s Alex Nedeljkovic had the first goalie fight since 2020.
‘I think it’s awesome,’ he said. ‘Nobody got hurt and to see two goalies fight, it’s always so awkward because we got all the equipment and we’re not used to fighting. It’s funny to watch.’
Fleury nearly had his chance in 2023 but was kept away as he skated down the ice and challenged St. Louis’ Jordan Binnington.
‘I have nothing against Jordan, really,’ he said. ‘I always wanted one fight in the NHL since I came in. In 21 years, I wanted to score a goal and have a fight. I came close on both but couldn’t get it done.’