After signing with Winnipeg as a UFA last season we caught up with Jets defenceman Haydn Fleury today for exit media availability today as he assessed his first season in Manitoba.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
The Saskatchewan product suited up 39 times for Winnipeg in the regular season finishing with seven assists but played eight of their 13 games in the playoffs including over 33 minutes in Game 7 against the Blues in the first round which included two assists. Not too shabby when you consider his average minutes during the 2024-25 campaign were a shade under 16 minutes and just under 13 minutes in the post-season.
He was asked if he could have imagined to have a season like this.
“Yeah it was a fun year. Probably didn’t expect it, no, but never lost belief in myself throughout the season, and thought I showed myself pretty well.”
No surprise he was also asked if he’ll ever forget that Game 7 against St. Louis.
“No. That’ll be one that will last forever. Just yeah, crazy. Still can’t really believe it. And special night and special night in the city.”
He had an interesting take on losing Game 6 to the Stars and how you do more learning from losing than you do from winning. While they showed good things in the series he felt there was a lot to be learned. What was his biggest takeaway?
“Just when you look at like the like the big moments in the series, I think Dallas owned more of them than we did. I thought just kind of the key moments in key situations would be a goal at the end of the period, or, you know, like a big block or big save, or whatever it was. It just seemed like they own more of those throughout the series than we did.”
Asked if he’d like to stay he indicated he would.
“I’d love to stay. I really enjoyed my time here. My wife and my kids really enjoy it. And being able to play in a city where hockey matters for me is huge. And just to be able to show my kids how much a sport can do for a community is something that I’m really proud that I got a show my son this year.”
He was asked to expand on the idea of sports doing for the community.
“Well, you see just the white out. You see how many kids and how many families are at these games, and how much passion they have for hockey here is just, it’s my first time playing in Canada, and I just think it’s special. The pressure that gets put on us as players is a special opportunity.”
He is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. We shall see if the two sides can work out a deal prior to that happening or if they agree to a deal sometime in July.
If you’d like to watch the full media availability it is here.
