ST. PAUL, Minn. Five weeks after being traded to the Wild last season, Marc-Andre Fleury drove to the teams practice facility just to make sure it actually existed.
The guys keep telling me about the practice arena and how great it is, and I think its a lie, Fleury joked at the time.
It was a moment of levity before the playoffs, but it also was a reminder of just how little the Wild practiced after Fleurys arrival. With the most condensed schedule in the NHL down the stretch, they were ravaged by injuries players were battling through.
In grand total last season, Fleury practiced with the Wild twice: once on the road and once the day before the teams playoff series began against the St. Louis Blues.
Fleury went 9-2 with the Wild in the regular season, but its no secret he has a very different style in net than the quieter Cam Talbot. And it sure felt like the Wilds blueliners had trouble in the playoffs determining where Fleury would place rebounds, when he would come out of his crease to play the puck and where hed place it.
Fleurys hope and the Wilds hope is that after a full training camp, the Wilds blue line will be more at ease playing in front of the veteran goaltender.
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Wild training camp: Fleury working on chemistry with D, plus Rossi and Steel first impressions, more - The Athletic
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