Article: Will Fleury Be Fully Appreciated In His Final Season?

[Phillip Garrett]

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[Pewterschmidt]

Bro hung around a looooong time.  Retiring at 43 is a choice he made, and Guerin enabled

Edited November 20 by Pewterschmidt

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Quote

 

 Will Fleury Be Fully Appreciated In His Final Season?

Really depends upon what you mean. He hasn't been the best goalie on the team any season he's been with the Wild. How much appreciation do backup goalies typically receive when they aren't performing better than the starters?

He has been the winning goalie in the Stanley Cup finals once in his career and had many other really strong years, but they happened before he joined the Wild. He's certainly a solid backup for the Wild, but I wouldn't be giving him special treatment if I were Hynes either.

If Fleury is set to play against one of Calgary or Edmonton, I'd bet it will be Calgary. Gus has been facing the more challenging offensive opposition for most of the last 3 seasons, but I hope Fleury continues to perform solidly in the games he does get between the pipes.

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

I really like Fleury, but we should in no way put him in as a favor to him on his farewell tour. Gus is riding a hot hand and has been fantastically consistent, play the man.

Even in the games so far from Fleury, he has lost a step. Something we all knew was coming when he signed yet another year after 3 years of statistical degradation. He will be fine as a backup but if Gus feels well enough to play, then hopefully they are playing him. I would be perturbed with our FO if they played it any other way. Fleury has stated he wants to do everything he can to help this team win, in this case, that means him riding the pine.

[MNCountryLife]

Fleury is a pro.  He proves it every day with his professional comments and backs it up by acting professional.  I think he is fine where he is at and appreciates his position in life and the team.  You have to respect a guy like him doing what is best for the team.  

[mnfaninnc]

Fleury is definitely the back up now. Goose couldn't quite get it done a year ago, but it appears he is getting it done this season, at least so far. We'll need Fleury to be sharp later when faced with the tough scheduling.

I do disagree with this statement in the article:

Quote

Bill Guerin brought Fleury to Minnesota because of his experience and to mentor Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt. Fleury’s influence on Gus will last for many seasons.

This is nonsense. Guerin brought Fleury to MN to win and to win in the playoffs. Goose wasn't even here and The Wall was still in Sweden. He may have resigned him to help influence them, but he wasn't brought in for that purpose. 

Guerin has admitted he is not a goalie guy. For the main purpose, bringing in Fleury has failed. However, from a mentorship standpoint, keeping him here may, indeed, pay off for a long time as Phillip suggests. 

[Beast]

Gus has been one of the hotties goalies in the NHL.  You have to ride that wave.  I understand why Fleury isn’t getting a ton of action.  He’ll have plenty of opportunities.

I don’t think appreciation is a problem for him.  Everywhere he goes, red carpets are rolled out and he’s treated like royalty.

The less he has to play this year, the better.  It means Gus is performing.  Frankly and obviously, he’s not the goalie he once was either.  He was a -9 on Goals Saved Above Average last year.  He’s about even this year in limited action.  Gus is at 9.8 this year, and is leading the league in GAA and Adjusted GAA.  Gus is the #1.  Looks like he could contend for a Vezina.  There’s no need to try to cram Fleury between the pipes more based on days gone by and a small sample size (at least until Gus hits a skid).

[viper3119]

4 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Retiring at 43 is a choice he made, and Guerin enabled

Fluery is only about to be 40....

[Enforceror]

8 minutes ago, viper3119 said:

Fluery is only about to be 40....

According to Duhaime, he's 50.

[Thatoneguy]

Speaking of goalies, does anybody watch iowa much? I'm just curious what's going on with the goal tending down there. Is the Wall struggling as bad as his stats look, or does iowa have that horrible of defensmen? 

It sure looks ugly when you look at Walls stats. 

[Sam]

1 hour ago, Thatoneguy said:

Speaking of goalies, does anybody watch iowa much? I'm just curious what's going on with the goal tending down there. Is the Wall struggling as bad as his stats look, or does iowa have that horrible of defensmen? 

It sure looks ugly when you look at Walls stats. 

Yea I agree, it looks pretty bad. I’m pretty sure it’s the lack of defense and odd man rush situations. I think they have been towards the bottom of their conference for awhile now.

[Sam]

5 hours ago, viper3119 said:

Fluery is only about to be 40....

P-Diesel doesn’t know what he’s talking about. 😉

[Imyourhuckleberry]

2 hours ago, Sam said:

I’m pretty sure it’s the lack of defense and odd man rush situations. I think they have been towards the bottom of their conference for awhile now.

Sounds about right. The Iowa Wild have not scored more goals for than goals against since the 2019-2020 season. They are currently leading the AHL in goals against, and Wallstedt has never performed this poorly in his post-draft history, or in the years of data available leading up to his draft.

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

Iowa as a whole is very yikes. Coaching needs to be adjusted down there, we are seeing very little progression out of our prospects and horrendous overall play since Army left.

#Maclean's got to go

[mnfaninnc]

3 hours ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

Iowa as a whole is very yikes. Coaching needs to be adjusted down there, we are seeing very little progression out of our prospects and horrendous overall play since Army left.

I would suggest that it's more than coaching. Army wasn't really getting kids ready either. I'm wondering if the investment in the kids is a little weak, ie their training resources. I wonder if we looked at balance sheets if as much of an investment from OCL is being put in as it is with other clubs? 

But, here is what I've noticed:

• The players as a whole are not bulking up to NHL bodies like they need to. When they get here they look weak. 
• Iowa has no legitimate defensive coach on staff and 5 guys that need it (at least)
• Iowa has consistently been a losing franchise
• The guys who come in from other places are way more ready to compete for an N roster spot

It has happened through 2 regimes so far. Changes must be made, but likely more than just a coaching change.

[Pewterschmidt]

2 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Army wasn't really getting kids ready either.

I suspect it's more of a garbage in, garbage out situation.  ie-Adam Beckman

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

21 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

It has happened through 2 regimes so far. Changes must be made, but likely more than just a coaching change.

Army had over 500 points percentage every year. made it to playoffs twice (no other coach since Wild's inception even sniffed them.) and brought up a bevy of players;

Shaw, Soucy, EEK, Kunin, Kahkonen, Prosser, Greenway, Donato, Duhaime, Dewar, Rau, Boldy, Hunt, Swaney, Rossi and Chaffee. Wallsteadt's red hot start was under his tutelage. 

This was all from 2018 onward too so the draft picks were not ideal at those times either.

I don't throw too much shade on Army, I think he was a good coach. Maybe not a great one, but good nonetheless.

[mnfaninnc]

I can't give Army credit for Ek, Greenway, Donato, Boldy, or Rossi. Rossi wasn't working until his massive offseason, Boldy was just a few games in the A and rehab, Greenway was sent down for just a couple of games and didn't do well when he was sent down for the playoffs. Kunin amounted to trade bait. Soucy and Prosser both were slow developers but developed with the same consideration to Seeler. Kahkonen also developed. Duhaime, Dewar and Shaw were 4th liners. 

But, so far, this is better than McLean was able to do, especially with the defenders.

[raithis]

19 minutes ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

Army had over 500 points percentage every year. made it to playoffs twice (no other coach since Wild's inception even sniffed them.) and brought up a bevy of players;

Shaw, Soucy, EEK, Kunin, Kahkonen, Prosser, Greenway, Donato, Duhaime, Dewar, Rau, Boldy, Hunt, Swaney, Rossi and Chaffee. Wallsteadt's red hot start was under his tutelage. 

This was all from 2018 onward too so the draft picks were not ideal at those times either.

I don't throw too much shade on Army, I think he was a good coach. Maybe not a great one, but good nonetheless.

Of the NHLers, Greenway, Donato, Boldy, and Eriksson Ek barely played for Iowa.  They have 30 regular season games played combined.  And most of the playoff games Donato and Greenway played for Iowa were after they had spent significant time that season in the NHL.  It's kind of a reach to say Army did much for any of them in the few games they played under him.

You can make a case for most of the other players you mention, but most of those never done anything in the NHL, and most of those who did barely spent any time working with him.

Army is nothing special.  Keep in mind that Fletcher had given away most of our draft picks and a lot of players on those teams were backfilled fringe players who couldn't make (or stay in) the NHL but would have been more than decent AHLers.  Army didn't help most of them advance further than that, and he didn't make very many of the prospects he was given become NHLers either.  A lot of that development can be credited to other programs rather than Iowa, so much so that I feel like Wallstedt (and others) would actually benefit more from playing in the SHL or NCAA rather than the AHL.

Having a winning record in the AHL is nice, but the AHL squad is only an asset to the NHL team if they are able to develop players.  That isn't happening now and it wasn't happening under Tim Army.

[raithis]

1 minute ago, raithis said:

Of the NHLers, Greenway, Donato, Boldy, and Eriksson Ek barely played for Iowa.  They have 30 regular season games played combined.  And most of the playoff games Donato and Greenway played for Iowa were after they had spent significant time that season in the NHL.  It's kind of a reach to say Army did much for any of them in the few games they played under him.

You can make a case for most of the other players you mention, but most of those never done anything in the NHL, and most of those who did barely spent any time working with him.

Army is nothing special.  Keep in mind that Fletcher had given away most of our draft picks and a lot of players on those teams were backfilled fringe players who couldn't make (or stay in) the NHL but would have been more than decent AHLers.  Army didn't help most of them advance further than that, and he didn't make very many of the prospects he was given become NHLers either.  A lot of that development can be credited to other programs rather than Iowa, so much so that I feel like Wallstedt (and others) would actually benefit more from playing in the SHL or NCAA rather than the AHL.

Having a winning record in the AHL is nice, but the AHL squad is only an asset to the NHL team if they are able to develop players.  That isn't happening now and it wasn't happening under Tim Army.

I should clarify that the 30 games they had combined were the games in Army's tenure.  Eriksson Ek played in more games but those were before Army was the coach.  Even still, the bulk of Ek's development happened after he was on the Wild and was working with the likes of Koivu and Staal.

 

[UK_Soldier]

LFGW. Not going to get much appreciation letting in something like that Flower. 

 

[Sam]

3 minutes ago, UK_Soldier said:

LFGW. Not going to get much appreciation letting in something like that Flower. 

 

It hopped over his stick I think.

[Protec]

Not getting the appreciation right now. Except in Edmonton.  Ba-da-ching. 

😄

[UK_Soldier]

5 minutes ago, Sam said:

It hopped over his stick I think.

Was listening on the radio when it went in and it didn't sound good. Fell over swinging at the puck. Watching now so hopefully (or not) I'll see a replay. 

[UK_Soldier]

BOLDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice dangles kid.