Wild beat Penguins on Fleury night

Marc-Andre Fleury will be back for another season.

ST. PAUL - The Wild announced today that they have re-signed Marc-Andre Fleury to a one-year extension worth $2,500,000.

Fleury, 39, has played in 39 games this season for the Wild. He carries a 17-14-5 record with a 2.98 goals-against average and a .895 save percentage with two shutouts.

There was a thought that Fleury would play in his final game of his long NHL career tomorrow against the Seattle Kraken but that thought was put to bed after the Wild announced Fleury's extension Wednesday morning.

Filip Gustavsson entered this season as the team's starter but after going through rough patches and ultimately a rough season, Fleury picked up starts here and there. He will play in his 40th game of the year and 36th start on Thursday.

Gustavsson will finish the season with 43 starts in 45 games with a 20-18-4 record. He will finish the year with a 3.06 goals-against average and a .899 save percentage with three shutouts.

The Wild also have given Jesper Wallstedt three games this year to get a glimpse of what the future may hold for him. Wallstedt has gone 2-1-0 this year with a 3.01 goals-against average and a .897 save percentage with one shutout.

Re-signing Fleury for another season allows Wallstedt to spend more time in Iowa to develop his game more. This is if the Wild keep the goaltending tandem of Fleury and Gustavsson next season.

If the Wild trade Gustavsson, who has two years left on his contract at $3,750,000 a year, then the goaltending duo would likely be Fleury and Wallstedt.

This would allow Wallstedt to learn more from Fleury, who is a future Hall of Fame goaltender, and help carve Wallstedt into the future No. 1 starter the club hopes the young Swedish goaltender will be.

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