Why Marc-Andre Fleury Is A Lock For The Hockey Hall Of Fame

Marc-Andre Fleury in his farewell match against the Blue Jackets© AFP News

The Penguins will honor Marc-Andre Fleury on Nov. 14, inducting him into the team Hall of Fame alongside Larry Murphy, Jim Rutherford and Jack McGregor. He went in unanimously in his first year of eligibility, the first player of the post-lockout era to get there. It is a deserved night. It is also the smaller of the two Halls waiting for him. Fleury becomes eligible for Toronto in 2028, and by then there will be very little left to argue about.

Fleury retired in May 2025 after 21 seasons with 575 wins. Only Martin Brodeur has more. Brodeur, Fleury and Patrick Roy are the only goaltenders in league history to clear 500. He won three Stanley Cups in Pittsburgh in 2009, 2016, and 2017, and the Vezina Trophy in 2021 in Vegas off a 1.98 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage.

In Pittsburgh he owns the records that matter. Most games played by a goaltender at 691, most wins at 375, most shutouts at 44, most playoff appearances at 115, and the best goals-against average in franchise history at 2.58.

Set that against the two goaltenders inducted in Toronto on Monday night. Pekka Rinne finished with 369 wins and one trip to a Final. Carey Price had 361 and never won a Cup. Both belong. Fleury has more than 200 wins on either of them and three rings.

Goaltenders Still Have To Wait Their Turn

The question is not whether he gets in. It is when.

Price was passed over in 2025 and went in on his second try. Rinne needed three years. Patrice Bergeron was the only first-ballot name in the 2026 class. The committee is working through a backlog and goaltenders almost never jump the queue.

Fleury's first chance comes in 2028. A crowded ballot could push him a year beyond that without anybody questioning the résumé.

The Part That Never Shows Up In A Record Book

The signature moment is the dive at Nicklas Lidstrom in the final seconds of Game 7 in 2009, the save that won a Cup. The fuller story is the back half of the career.

Fleury accepted a tandem role in Pittsburgh and still delivered the goaltending that helped carry the 2017 run. He took an expansion team to a Final in Vegas. Then he spent three and a half years in Minnesota as the veteran in the room while the Wild brought along the goalies who would replace him. Jesper Wallstedt has the net in St. Paul now, and he learned the job next to Fleury.

Voters talk about character as a tiebreaker. With Fleury it is not a tiebreaker. It is most of the point.