Marc-Andre Fleury shares heartwarming reason why he’s playing for Canada
Marc-Andre Fleury’s NHL career may have come to a close, but he still has a bit of hockey left in the tank.
The legendary goaltender has officially hung up the skates after his Minnesota Wild were eliminated in the opening round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. That, however, wasn’t the definitive end of his professional career.
Fleury decided that he wanted to represent his country one last time and is currently in Sweden playing for Team Canada at the 2025 IIHF World Championship alongside fellow star players like Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon.
You would think that after over 20 seasons and 1,000 NHL games, Fleury would finally want a break from it all, but he gave a heartwarming reason for his decision to join Canada’s squad.
“Any time you wear the Canadian jersey, it’s such a great experience. Always an honour to play with that jersey on,” Fleury told TSN. “Why not? It’s a lot of fun, and I’m going to try to enjoy it as much as I can.”
"Why not? It's a lot of fun, and I'm going to try to enjoy it as much as I can."
Marc-Andre Fleury on what made him want to represent Canada one last time. pic.twitter.com/1v0P4IpsGt
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 11, 2025
Fleury loves the game more than your average player, and his dedication to the sport has been proven time and time again. He currently ranks second all-time in games-played by an NHL goalie with 1,051, behind only Martin Brodeur and ahead of other legends such as Roberto Luongo and Patrick Roy.
When it comes to wins, Fleury’s 575 is once again behind only Brodeur’s 691 all-time. He is almost assuredly going to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame once he is eligible.
When it comes to his international play, Fluery has represented Canada a handful of times. He won two silver medals playing for his country at the 2003 and 2004 World Junior Championships and captured a gold medal at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, although he did not appear in a single game.
This is the first time that Fleury has played for Canada at the World Championship, and he will be looking to add another piece of hardware to his collection before retirement.