NEWSLETTER
The Marc-André Fleury era in Chicago is coming to an end as the Blackhawks have reportedly agreed to send the former Vezina winner to Minnesota, according to Frank Seravalli.
BREAKING: Hearing #Blackhawks are trading Marc-Andre Fleury to #mnwild. Sounds like conditional 2nd round pick that can become a 1st for CHI.@DailyFaceoff
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 21, 2022
Elliotte Friedman first reported on Saturday night that the Central Division foes were discussing a trade for Fleury, as did The Athletic’s Wild beat reporter Michael Russo. On Sunday afternoon, Friedman doubled down on that report, calling it a “greater than 50 percent chance” that Fleury would be heading to Wild.
The Wild will be sending a conditional second-round pick that can become a first-rounder to the Blackhawks in exchange for the veteran netminder’s services as the Wild gear up for a Stanley Cup Playoffs run.
Details on that:
Fleury conditions: 2nd round pick becomes a 1st for #Blackhawks if MIN reaches Western Conference Final and Fleury accounts for 4 wins or more in first two rounds.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 21, 2022
On Friday, the Blackhawks traded Brandon Hagel to the Tampa Bay Lightning, acquiring Taylor Raddysh, Boris Katchouk, and a pair of first-rounders in 2023 and 2024. The return for the Fleury trade to Minnesota now gives Davidson an additional second-rounder (possibly a first) to work with as he works to re-shape this franchise in the coming years.
UPDATE: Kyle Davidson and the Blackhawks got Marc-André Fleury to waive the partial n0-movement clause and agree to a trade to the Minnesota Wild, even after the Wild seemed poised to stand pat at the deadline if the cost of acquiring Fleury was a first-rounder. While the return is a second-rounder for now, the condition that allows the pick to parlay into a first-rounder based on Fleury’s playoff success is a big negotiating win for the rookie GM Davidson.
A few days ago, it seemed like the market for Fleury (and teams that he wanted to go to) had completely dried up. I wrote last week that I wasn’t confident that Fleury would be playing elsewhere this season with most of the league unwilling to meet Kyle Davidson’s demands, but Davidson found a way to make it work.
Even if the Wild bomb in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the pick remains a second-rounder, Davidson will have walked a tightrope of a dried-up goaltender market and the handshake deal that allowed Fleury to have final say in the trade and landed the Blackhawks a second-rounder to go along with the two first-rounders that Davidson acquired in the Brandon Hagel deal on Friday. All in all, this is a solid mark for Davidson.
I’ll have plenty more thoughts on this later when we see how the rest of the day plays out, but for now, Davidson is holding true to his promises last month.
UPDATE: The Blackhawks will be retaining 50 percent of Fleury’s cap hit ($3.5M) and the conditional second-rounder is for the 2022 draft.
#Blackhawks are retaining 50% on Fleury.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 21, 2022
The conditional pick in Marc-Andre Fleury trade is in 2022, per source. #Blackhawks https://t.co/C5fNTSpCeK
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 21, 2022
