The Philadelphia Flyers have struggled for many years of late, but one of their top draft picks -- Russian winger Matvei Michkov -- is giving Flyers fans legitimate hope that their future will be much better very soon. And in this feature story from THN's 2025 Rookie Issue, writer Ken Campbell profiled Michkov as he found his footing in his first NHL season:

THE EDUCATION OF MATVEI MICHKOV

By Ken Campbell

Yeah, sure, some guys sashay into the NHL as teenagers and immediately start skating around like they own the place. Gretzky, Ovechkin, Crosby, Lemieux, Hawerchuk, Orr, Murphy, Barrasso. Freaks, every last one of them.

For the vast majority of them, though, it’s a constant battle to continually prove they belong in The Best League in the World™. They learn pretty quickly why former-NHLer-turned-broadcaster Ray Ferraro thinks they should simply change the name of the sport to “hard.” Joe Thornton had seven points in his rookie season, eh? Jacques Martin once referred to a 19-year-old Jason Spezza as “a boy playing a man’s game.” One time during Brendan Shanahan’s rookie season, he lined up for a faceoff and the opposing winger asked the 18-year-old how things were going. “Not too good,” Shanahan replied. “I’m tied with Ron Hextall in goals.”

For a lot of guys, it looks a little like this: you follow up a streak of eight points in five games with two in your next 10. But you keep grinding. You look a little tentative, almost as though you’re afraid to make a mistake. You disappear sometimes, which at least means you’re not going to be the star of the next day’s video session. But you’re really trying to be a responsible player, even if it means sacrificing offense. You get the puck on your stick in the fun zone and make some neat moves that don’t result in anything.

Then, in overtime, the puck gets rimmed along the boards and your eyes get really big – because you lead your team in overtime goals and you’re tied for the NHL record for OT-winners by a teenager. You grab the puck, rush up the ice and try a spin-and-backhand, but it’s easily stopped, and the puck gets kicked up to Auston Matthews. Seriously, it had to be him, eh? You head back to the bench and arrive just in time to see Matthews feather a pass to Morgan Rielly for the game-winner. Well, at least you didn’t eat a minus.

For Matvei Michkov, the prized rookie the Philadelphia Flyers got long before they thought they would, it’s another battle scar, another lesson in a season that has seen some wonderful highs and gut-punch lows. “It’s hard to go with ups and downs,” Michkov said through an interpreter who travels with the team specifically for him. “It would be easier if they were all ups.”

Of course it would, but that’s rarely how the hockey gods write the script. Had Michkov stayed in Russia and played in the KHL for SKA St. Petersburg for the next two seasons like everyone thought he would, perhaps he could’ve been the second coming of Kirill Kaprizov. But right now, he’s a just-turned-20-year-old playing for one of the most demanding coaches in the history of the game in one of the most unforgiving hockey markets.

And even though Michkov survived John Tortorella’s infamous rope test in training camp, that doesn’t mean the coach is going to give Michkov any more of it just because he’s a superstar in waiting. In fact, the opposite is probably true. Tortorella is likely more ardent about making Michkov a complete player because he’s so special.

It’s not enough for Tortorella to see Michkov perform magic in the offensive zone and look entirely lost inside his own blueline. It’s both a blessing and a bit of a curse that they’re getting him so early in his career, but it does give them time to teach him everything it takes to be an NHL star. The learning curve is steep, but it’s also going to be accelerated this way. Whenever Tortorella talks about the process with Michkov, he has nothing but good things to say about his receptiveness, character and compete level.

“I couldn’t be happier as far as where we’re at,” said Tortorella, who might surprise some people by being happy about anything. “I’m thrilled at where we’re at there. The biggest compliment you can give a player is when you call him ‘a hockey player.’ He’s a hockey player. He loves playing. The only maintenance we have with him is the language barrier.”

When asked to respond to that kind of praise from a coach who traditionally throws plaudits around like they’re manhole covers, Michkov answered by saying, “the coach knows best.” It seems to be his standard response early in his career to everything from being benched for a period or a healthy scratch to being praised for his elevated level of gumption. Michkov may be “a hockey player” by Tortorella’s parlance, but that doesn’t mean he’s a complete hockey player. When it comes to that part of his development, well, let’s just say there have been some moments.

“We are so cognizant of what we have in him as far as the ability that he has,” Tortorella said. “But he is going to learn what it is to be a pro. He is going to learn that. And he’s going to learn that there’s another side of the puck.”

In reality, Tortorella is doing with Michkov what a hundred other coaches have done with a hundred other offensive stars in the past. It’s not much different than when Tortorella crossed swords with Vincent Lecavalier in Tampa Bay, and we all saw how that turned out. There seems to be this perception that Tortorella is on a mission to “break” Michkov down, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Tortorella is clear in saying he and the other Flyers coaches give Michkov free rein to do whatever he wants when he has the puck in the offensive zone, because that’s where he is going to make his mark.

And the hockey world has seen in spurts how special Michkov can be around the net. And this isn’t meant to cast aspersions on his teammates, but if his fellow Flyers were able to convert more of the sublime and mind-boggling set-ups he gives them, Michkov would probably be running away with the NHL rookie scoring lead. “It would be so wrong for us not to spend the time that we’re spending with him on that part of the game,” Tortorella said. “We would not be doing our job. And the idiots out there who are saying, ‘He doesn’t understand it,’ they can kiss my ass. We are so happy that we’ve got him right now, and we’re not going to waste a moment as far as trying to help him.”

So, we’ll put the coach down as undecided. It was not lost on Tortorella’s boss, Flyers GM Danny Briere, that Michkov responded to being scratched for two games in November by scoring a goal and an assist, along with the winning tally in the shootout, in his first game back, en route to collecting five points in three games. One thing Briere has noticed about Michkov is that the big moments don’t seem to affect him, as evidenced by his three OT-winners and shootout-winner through the first half of the season.

Briere, who took four years to establish himself as an NHL regular after scoring more than 400 points in three years of junior hockey, knows a little something about trying to change minds. “With Matvei, he takes it, and he wants to prove that the coach was wrong,” Briere said. “And that’s why you see him come back and he sticks it to him, he shows him he made a mistake by benching him or sitting him, and that’s the part that I love about Matvei. He doesn’t accept it, and he wants to show you that you’re wrong. It’s pretty cool.”

With the way Michkov sees the game, there will likely come a day when he’ll be playing chess and everyone else will be playing checkers, but that day is not now. On a Saturday afternoon after a practice at a suburban Toronto rink, Michkov emerged from the Flyers’ dressing room looking a little worn down by a pointless drought. He got a little testy over a question about his linemates and later apologized through his interpreter. He talked about how, away from the rink, he’s essentially a homebody, preferring to be close to his mother, Maria, and brother, Prohor, who live with him.

Less than three months before Michkov went seventh overall in the 2023 draft, his father, Andrei, left the apartment they shared in Sochi to go to a convenience store. Two days later, he was found dead in a pond. It’s easy to forget that Michkov is barely 20 and is still dealing with that. “He likes to put away the phone and do the home things,” the interpreter said. “It’s not often he has time to be with the family, because there is a lot of time on the road. But he’d like to spend the time at home with the family, in the quiet.” If Michkov wants, he’ll get his quiet. He deserves it. But on the ice, the noise is just beginning.

Chicago Blackhawks star center Connor Bedard is finishing up his sophmore NHL season. And in this cover story from THN's Sept. 18, 2023 edition, editor-in-chief Ryan Kennedy covered Bedard's development in the Windy City:,

CHICAGO HOPE

By Ryan Kennedy

Connor Bedqrd is one of the most talented offensive prospects we’ve seen since Connor McDavid came on the radar one generation prior, but in the lead-up to the 2023 NHL draft in Nashville, Bedard was also playing some stifling defense. Everybody knew the Chicago Blackhawks were going to select the Regina Pats superstar first overall, and everyone had known it since the Hawks won the lottery back on May 8. This was not a Taylor Hall/Tyler Seguin or Nico Hischier/Nolan Patrick situation. This was a stone-cold lock. But Bedard was having none of it. Even the day before the draft, when Bedard held court with the media, he made it clear he would not be assuming himself as the No. 1 pick until it happened. So questions about whether he likes his Italian beef sandwiches dipped, Cubs versus White Sox, or whether or not it’s blasphemous to put ketchup on a hot dog would have to wait.

And while the Hawks themselves remained cagey in the lead-up, the jig was up as soon as they handed Bedard his first Chicago jersey on stage, emblazoned with his usual No. 98 on the arms and back instead of the No. 23 that other top picks such as Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson and Columbus’ Adam Fantilli were given that night. But Bedard had to at least have googled a couple of things about the Windy City in preparation, right?

“No, I didn’t want to jinx myself or anything,” said Bedard about 15 minutes after officially becoming a member of the Hawks organization. “So I kind of played it cool, I guess, just doing normal day-to-day stuff. Obviously, now I think that you can start looking into stuff and all that, but a lot of people have talked to me about it, and seeing the reaction from fans after everything is unbelievable.”

At the least, Bedard officially becoming a member of the Original Six franchise meant he could finally fully embrace the rabid fan base. “Yeah, it’s great, I don’t have to say no to signing anything ‘Chicago’ now,” he said. “To see the passion and just how that city gets behind all their teams, they have a lot of sports teams, and, of course, the Blackhawks are a big one. Just seeing the support so far, yeah, it’s hard to kind of describe or put into words, but it’s a great feeling.”

Indeed, the hundreds of Hawks fans who made the pilgrimage to Nashville were not disappointed when Chicago announced its first selection, and they had reason to celebrate: as the Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews era closed in Chicago, the Bedard era has officially begun.

The players who turned the Hawks into a modern-day dynasty from 2010 to 2015 are now all gone from the roster. Kane was traded to the New York Rangers at the deadline; Toews wasn’t re-signed this summer, and whether health issues will force him into retirement is very much in question. As it is, Toews has announced he will not be playing in 2023-24. Marian Hossa just had his ‘Goodbye Game’ for charity in Slovakia, while Duncan Keith retired in 2022 after finishing his career in Edmonton. Brent Seabrook technically belongs to the Tampa Bay Lightning, but in reality, the big rearguard’s career is over, not having played a game since December 2019 due to injury.

Under new GM Kyle Davidson, the Hawks headed into a full-scale rebuild, and with some lottery luck, they got their new cornerstone in Bedard. Outside expectations could not be higher for the teenager, but the fact Bedard is more than just a silky set of hands is what sets him apart from your run-of-the-mill junior star. “You realize how humble and how hungry he is,” Davidson said. “To listen to him and how hard he wants to work, and he’s already working so hard. He’s so excited to get in the weight room and get back on the ice and more, more, more. It gets you fired up. When someone wants to be great and wants to work, it’s pretty exciting.”

Though his hockey career is still in its infancy, Bedard has already proven how driven he is. One only needs to look back to the 2023 World Junior Championship in Halifax, when Canada was in tough against a determined Slovakia squad in the quarterfinal. With the score tied 3-3 late, Bedard had a golden opportunity for a goal thwarted by the stick of a Slovakian defenseman, and his anger was visible when he got back to the bench as he slammed his stick hard against the ice. But Bedard channelled that competitive rage in the best possible way, dancing through all three Slovakian skaters in overtime before putting the winner past goaltender – and future fellow Chicago pick – Adam Gajan. Even up in the press box, it was obvious that Bedard was dead-set on ending that game, and, sure enough, he did.

By all accounts, that commitment to excellence extends off the ice as well. “Good player, better person,” said Chicago’s director of amateur scouting Mike Doneghey. “He’s going to be able to drive our team once he’s acclimated and gets a little older. He’s a player you build around, not only on the ice but with the way he carries himself and the way his teammates respect him. He brings a lot of guys into the action and will make everyone around him better.”

Which is exactly the type of player Chicago needs right now. Last year’s Hawks were downright terrible by pretty much every metric: dead-last in offense, bottom five in defense and on the power play, 22nd on the penalty kill. Their leading scorer was Max Domi, with 49 points – and that was in the 60 games before he was traded to Dallas. Their second-leading scorer was Kane, before he was dealt to the Rangers. So the highest-scoring Hawks player who actually finished the season with the team was Andreas Athanasiou, who tallied 20 goals and 40 points. Nearly 200 NHLers had more points than Athanasiou.

Bedard, who has already signed an exclusive partnership with Sherwood, will undoubtedly help with Chicago’s scoring punch, but it would be folly to imagine him doing it all by himself. Which is why Davidson’s summer work was so intriguing. Among his pick-ups were much-travelled forwards Taylor Hall, Nick Foligno and Corey Perry.

In Foligno and Perry, the Hawks get two pros who have seen it all. And in Perry specifically, they get a Stanley Cup champion (with Anaheim in 2007) who has also been to the Stanley Cup final three times in the past four seasons. Both Foligno and Perry are physical players who would be obvious deterrents for any opponent who would deign to rough up Bedard on the ice. It also wouldn’t be surprising if one of them becomes Bedard’s landlord/billet dad/carpool buddy for Season 1, as Bedard will have enough on his hands as a vaunted phenom entering his rookie campaign.

In Hall, the Hawks get someone with a unique perspective and NHL history. Hall was drafted first overall himself, to the Edmonton Oilers in 2010, where a vacuum of leadership held the team back from any kind of success during his tenure there. But, in 2018, Hall won the Hart Trophy as a member of the New Jersey Devils. His linemate? Rookie and straight-from-the-draft-podium No. 1 pick Nico Hischier, who Hall credited with helping him nab those MVP honors. So, Bedard has some guys to back him up.

“It’s really special,” Bedard said. “Those guys have been through everything in the NHL. For me to get to learn from them, and obviously they’re unbelievable players, just having those guys to ask questions to, it’s awesome.”

As for the veterans, they’ve liked what they’ve seen of Bedard already. “You can tell just from watching him talk to the media, he’s pretty well-mannered,” Hall said. “He knows what to expect. He has high expectations for himself, and for guys like ‘Fliggy’ (Foligno) and I, it’s about letting him play and bringing the best out of him. Try to eliminate distractions, give him advice and mentor him as best as possible. It’s exciting.”

Even with Bedard and the influx of old pros up front, the Hawks will surely struggle again this season, but again: at least the moves Davidson has been making line up. A rebuild takes a long time, and even going back to the last Chicago demolition, it really began three years before the Hawks landed Toews and Kane in consecutive drafts (Toews going third overall in 2006, Kane first overall one year later).

Right now, Chicago has 2020 first-rounder Lukas Reichel, who looks ready to become a full-time contributor, plus a bunch of intriguing blueliners in the pipeline, led by Kevin Korchinski, Ethan Del Mastro and Sam Rinzel. There’s a lot of work to do, but at least there’s a base now. “There’s an excitement to joining a team at the ground level,” Hall said. “Being there every step of the way at the very beginning, there’s something to that that’s exciting for us.”

It’s also exciting to do so in Chicago, a town that loves its Hawks. Even with the team cratering in the standings, Chicago drew more than 17,000 fans per game, and it’s hard not to see a Bedard bump coming to the United Center. For a kid who knows the recent history of the team and how Toews and Kane brought glory to a previously lovelorn franchise, getting to represent that franchise means something. “Yeah, it’s incredible,” Bedard said. “I can’t put it into words. Growing up, obviously that was when they were going on their runs and winning the Cups. You see a lot of them, with the United Center going crazy and all of Chicago getting behind them, the Original Six and so much history here. I’m so happy to be part of the Blackhawks organization.”

So now the moment approaches. Bedard in the NHL, something we’ve been thinking about for years already. How will he stack up against all the great players who came before him? Luckily, the NHL schedule-makers know a good storyline when they see one, and Chicago opens the season in Pittsburgh, home of Sidney Crosby.

“I was trying not to look at the schedule,” Bedard said. “Some people were telling me, I didn’t want to look too hard into it. But man, like I said, if I’m able to make the squad come October, (Crosby was my) childhood idol, ever since I can remember. That would be unbelievable. It’s a little bit of time away. I think I’ll kind of dream about it now, but hopefully that comes.”

Hopefully? Geez, kid, help us out a bit here. But there’s that humility once again, and it’s hard to knock when it’s obviously helped keep Bedard on the right path so far. But clearly the NHL assumes Bedard will be an instant sensation out of camp, because Chicago also plays Auston Matthews and Toronto plus Nathan MacKinnon and Colorado in Games 4 and 5 on the schedule. Also in October? Two games against the defending Cup champions from Vegas.

Soon, the “ifs” and “hopefullys” will be gone and we’ll be watching Bedard on the ice, driving defenses crazy and using that wicked shot of his that has been NHL-caliber since he was 14. In the meantime, we’ll accept Bedard is a young man who takes nothing for granted, even if expectations for him are sky-high.

As for his own rookie expectations? “It’s hard to say,” he said. “I’ve never played a game there or anything. For me, it’s having a good rest of the summer and trying to prepare myself as best I can to try to make the team. It’s really hard to say what I have to do to play well there because it’s different and I’ve never experienced that. Obviously, as the best league in the world, it won’t be easy, but I’m going to do whatever I can this summer and moving forward to try to have an impact in the league.”

We’re sure Bedard is going to make the Blackhawks, but his attitude isn’t weird; McDavid was the same at that age, as was Wayne Gretzky. And it all worked out pretty well for those guys.

Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is finishing up his final, Hockey-Hall-of-Fame NHL career this year. And in this cover story from THN's 2024 Goalie Issue, writer Ken Campbell penned a deep-dive feature on the way he's authoring his exit from the game's best league:

FINAL FLEURY

By Ken Campbell

It's the not knowing that’s the worst part. Yeah, it’s definitely the not knowing. Welcome to the hellscape that is Marc-Andre Fleury’s final season in the NHL. His teammates, both present and past, are operating on the assumption that they’ll have to spend the 2024-25 season on constant high alert. I mean, look what Fleury did to Brandon Duhaime last year, and all the poor guy did was toilet-paper Fleury’s car and joke during a television interview that Fleury was doing impressive things at the age of 50. Next thing you know, Duhaime’s tires are removed and chained together in the parking garage, his car is on cinder blocks, and there’s a small garden on his hood.

‘The Kid’ has to be crapping his pants right about now. All Sidney Crosby did was fill Fleury’s gear with gum one time, and then he shows up at the NHL Media Tour two years ago and all his equipment is hanging in his stall taped together. You see, they know Fleury could strike at any time, but they don’t know when or how. If they’ve wronged him in any way, they can be pretty sure he’s going to use an XL18 flamethrower to wipe out an ant hill. And after everything Fleury has done in the 21 years he’s been in the NHL, he has to have one epic, all-time, go-out-in-a-blaze-of-glory, Lloyd-Christmas-level prank in him, right?

“To be honest, I haven’t thought much about it,” Fleury said, “but now that you mention it…”

See what we mean? How can anyone trust that? For his part, Fleury maintains that, “I’m pretty sure all the scores have been settled,” brilliantly capped by the demented chef’s kiss that was the Duhaime prank last April in Colorado, with Fleury waiting in the background and giggling.

As Fleury embarks on the final season of an NHL career that will undoubtedly result in a call to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2028, it will be about what it has always been about – competing against the best players in the world and trying to beat them in every outing. But as he makes his way through the league one last time, he’ll allow himself to take it all in, to soak up the memories he has created over the years.

And beneath it all will be a deep sense of gratitude for everything the game has given him the past two decades. During the season, everything happens so quickly, and you might spend a day or two in St. Louis and move on to the next place, all on autopilot. Fleury doesn’t want that in his last go-round. He wants it to also be a time of reflection. About what he has done, what he has and how incredibly fortunate he has been to make a living out of playing hockey. “Maybe take a few more minutes in every building, to take the time to appreciate that I’m still doing this,” Fleury said. “There will be memories. All those memories in all those buildings.”

They go all the way back to 2003, considered one of the strongest draft crops ever, when the Pittsburgh Penguins traded up to take Fleury first overall. If he appears in 20 games this season, he’ll eclipse Roberto Luongo for second place on the all-time games-played list behind Martin Brodeur. His fifth game will move him past Patrick Roy, who he eclipsed for second on the all-time wins list, also behind Brodeur, last season.

Brodeur, Fleury, Roy and Luongo account for the top four spots. (Remember when Quebec used to be a goalie factory?) The fifth time Fleury starts a game for the Wild this season, he will register his 1,000th career start. With the retirements of Joe Pavelski and Jeff Carter in the summer, that leaves only Fleury, Brent Burns, Corey Perry and Ryan Suter still playing from that 2003 draft. (Fun fact: Fleury’s 22 career assists have him tied for 69th in NHL scoring – with Paul Bissonnette and others – among the 292 players drafted that year.)

Three Stanley Cups, with the first one coming on one of the most clutch saves in NHL history, an unlikely Vezina Trophy late in his career, a trip to the Cup final with ‘The Golden Misfits’ and an unblemished off- and on-ice reputation have Fleury breathing the rarefied air among some of the most respected players in the game.

He has had bad days, to be sure, but it’s difficult to tell since Fleury spends most of the time showing off the whitest and straightest teeth in NHL history. He brings joy to every crease and every dressing room he steps into, and it will continue to be that way as he tries to get in the path of as many pucks as he can in his last season.

Of course, he has some of the big games circled on his calendar, or at least digitally bookmarked. Oct. 29 in Pittsburgh, man, that’s going to be a tear-jerker. Jan. 12 in Vegas, too. The games in Montreal are always special, and the Wild will be there Jan. 30. Even Chicago, where Fleury played part of one season, will give him the feels when he visits there Nov. 10 and Jan. 26. And in late November, Fleury will celebrate his 40th birthday, making him one of only 25 goalies – 23 if you throw out one-game wonders Lester Patrick and David Ayres – to play an NHL game after their 40th birthday. Of that group, 12 are in the Hall of Fame, and Fleury will join them there.

But before all that can happen, there is a rather crowded Wild crease situation to be sorted out. To be fair, goaltending was a bit of a black hole for Minnesota in 2023-24, with Fleury posting just 17 wins and the worst save percentage of his career (.895). Filip Gustavsson followed up a brilliant 2022-23 with an equally disastrous ’23-24. The wild card is Jesper Wallstedt, a first-round pick of the Wild in 2021 and the franchise’s goalie of the future. After two solid but unspectacular seasons in the AHL, the feeling is Wallstedt, who turns 22 two weeks before Fleury hits 40, could be ready for NHL work. The consensus is Gustavsson is probably on the least stable ground, but there’s no sense trying to untangle this thing too early, because who knows with goalies from one year to the next, anyway?

One thing both the Wild and Fleury are adamant about is that this will not be The Marc-Andre Fleury Farewell Tour, where they keep trotting out a 40-year-old just for the sake of having him wave to the crowd after the game. If you had to describe the Wild in one word – and this goes for almost every season they’ve been in the league – it would probably be “meh.” Not terrible. Not great. Kind of in the mushy middle, and not likely to be able to really build themselves into a contender until they shed the $14.7 million in salary retention on the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts after this season. If one of the Wild goalies grabs the crease and pulls a Devan Dubnyk circa 2015, he’ll be the one who plays. The Wild missed the playoffs last year and haven’t advanced past the first round in a decade. They were in the bottom half of the league in goals against and lost nine overtime games last season. Improved goaltending will have to be part of the equation if the Wild hope to return to the post-season, with or without Fleury in goal.

“It will be business as usual because that’s what ‘Flower’ wants,” said Wild GM Bill Guerin. “He doesn’t want any of that stuff. He’s never wanted it. We want to have a good year. We want to make the playoffs. This is not a farewell tour. This is about him still being a good player in the league and being competitive as hell.”

That’s what it is all about for Fleury, too. Behind the effulgent smile, calm exterior and pleasant demeanor is a guy who hates losing almost as much as he loves winning. Anyone who has played with or dealt with Fleury will attest to the fact that from the time he first appeared wearing braces in THN’s 2003 Draft Preview issue, the competitive fires have burned hot and bright. You don’t last in the NHL for as long as Fleury has without an unyielding desire to win. “It’s probably stronger than ever,” said Fleury of his will to win. “That feeling you get when you play against the best players in the world and win against them, there’s nothing like it. And then you want to win again, and then you want to win again.”

Nine years ago, the Penguins were playing a pre-season game at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena to commemorate Johnstown, Pa., winning the Kraft Hockeyville contest. The fictional home of the Charlestown Chiefs of Slap Shot fame, the city leans big-time into its cinematic lore. A marketing genius with the Penguins came up with the idea for Fleury and local broadcaster Dan Potash to play Denis Lemieux and Jim Carr and recreate the opening scene of the movie. Fleury nails Lemieux’s words and mannerisms almost as well as Yvon Barrette did in the movie, not even cracking a smile when he talks about how, “you go to the box, two minutes by yourself and you feel shame. And then you get free.”

You can probably count on one hand, with a finger or two left over, the number of players who would agree to do something like that, particularly in this day and age. But it was classic Fleury, a guy who isn’t afraid to put himself out there and doesn’t take himself too seriously. It’s all part of the sheer joy he has playing the game, and it’s why nobody in the hockey world seems to have a disparaging word to say about him. Former Penguins GM Jim Rutherford, who has been around the game for more than a half-century, once referred to Fleury as, “the best team player in sports,” for good reason.

And that is why teams will almost certainly line up to hire Fleury if he decides he wants a future in the game. The plan for now is to spend the winters and school years in Vegas, where he has built a home, and the summers in suburban Montreal. If he can find a way to make hockey work while he puts his family first, there might be a fit. He’d like to play a little beer-league hockey, but not as a goalie, because every goalie who ever lived has this notion that he’s also a great position player. “I like the idea of trying to make plays and score and dangle the stick, skate around, get a good sweat,” Fleury said. “And just to sit on the bench and have somebody to talk to. That would be fun.”

But Fleury is adamant that, at least for the first couple of years after his retirement, his family will be the top priority. He’s missed too many Christmas pageants, Halloweens and birthdays over the years, and he wants to be there for those. He wants to watch his daughters, 11-year-old Estelle and nine-year-old Scarlett, play soccer. Five-year-old James is just beginning his hockey journey, and Fleury is looking forward to where that will take him. “He just learned to skate last year, but for the games, he always wants to go back into the net,” Fleury said. “I’m like, ‘Go score some goals.’ ”

Fleury hasn’t thought much about his post-playing life, but if he were to stay involved in the game, it would probably be at the management level. And that makes sense for a guy who has made a career building relationships. If he needs a roadmap, he need look no further than his former teammate and boss, who took a year off after he retired, then joined Pittsburgh’s front office, first as a development coach, then assistant GM. When Guerin went to see then-GM Ray Shero about a job, Shero told him his biggest nightmare was having to give jobs to former players who wanted the title, the office and the paycheque but weren’t willing to travel to Grand Rapids to watch the farm team.

“Let’s see how hard he wants to work,” said Guerin of Fleury’s post-playing prospects. “Being in hockey operations is not easy, and it’s not the glamorous life people think it is. But, that being said, he has everything it would take to be successful. ‘Flower’ is smart, he’s charismatic, and he’s got great relationships around the league. There’s no reason he couldn’t have success on the other side. He’s got all the intangibles and the ingredients of a guy who could do it.”

Until then, Fleury will make sure to enjoy the last leg of his playing journey. On the exterior, it doesn’t look as though Fleury has aged all that much over the years. Sure, he no longer tints his hair, but really, who does that anymore? He’s still in outstanding physical shape. And even he marvels at the fact that time has gone by so quickly.

Like every other player who retires, he’ll miss the games and his teammates in the dressing room, but not so much the grind it requires in the summer to prepare for the next season. Nor will he miss waking up with at least one part of his body hurting, which has been the case for the past couple of seasons. He won’t hike his pants up to his chest and complain that he seems to be busier in retirement than when he was working, because he doesn’t plan on replacing the chaos of playing in the NHL with doing something else at a chaotic pace. He acknowledges he doesn’t know much of anything about the hockey-ops side of the game, and the ability to play at the highest level doesn’t translate into an ability to build a team as much as people think.

Once the puck drops, for Fleury, it will be all about winning games and capturing all the great things about playing and hanging on to them. He still can’t believe playing hockey is a job that will have paid him almost $100 million by the time his career ends. All he wanted to do as a teenager was play one game in the NHL, and he’s played more than a thousand. Regardless of how this season ends, he’ll leave the game with no regrets. “I know I’m on my last miles here,” Fleury said. “I love the feeling, and I want to enjoy it as long as I can as much as I can while I can.”