Minnesota Wild acquire Marc-Andre Fleury, trade Kaapo Kahkonen to Sharks
It’s a goalie carousel in Minnesota right now, as the Wild have acquired goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury from the Chicago Blackhawks for a conditional second-round pick and immediately followed that by dealing goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen to the San Jose Sharks for Jacob Middleton, along with a fifth-round pick.
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, 2022Fleury was ranked No. 1 on Frank Seravalli’s Trade Targets list this morning and was on the last year of his three year contract with a $7-million cap hit that he originally signed with the Vegas Golden Knights. He had spent four seasons with Vegas, including winning the Vezina trophy last season before getting traded to Chicago for nothing.
Fleury has a 19-21-5 record with Chicago, and a .908 save percentage. While the Blackhawks sit in the bottom 10 in the league with a 22-32-9 record, Fleury has accounted for 19 of those 22 wins.
Fleury joins a Wild team that’s 36-20-4 and third place in the Central division. They’ll be looking to go all in on winning a Cup this season, as for the next three seasons, they’ll be looking at more than $12 million of their cap space tied up to the buyout of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter contracts.
The conditional second-round pick will become a first round pick if Minnesota reaches the Western Conference Finals, and Fleury wins at least four games in the first two rounds.
Hearing #sjsharks are acquiring G Kaapo Kahkonen from #mnwild in exchange for D Jacob Middleton.@DailyFaceoff
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 21, 2022As Seravalli reports, the Blackhawks are retaining 50 percent of Fleury’s salary.
The Wild have also dealt one of their goalies to make room for Fleury, as they have traded Kahkonen to the San Jose Sharks for Jacob Middleton. Kahkonen has a 12-8-3 record this season with a .910 save percentage.
Middleton has three goals and nine points in 45 games with the Sharks this season.
Be sure to check out our Trade Tracker for up-to-date information on all of the deals made on NHL Trade Deadline Day.