Rumor: Wild make a surprising choice in goal for Game 1!

The Minnesota Wild appear to have made their choice.

On Monday night the Wild will kick off their first round Stanley Cup playoff series against the St. Louis Blues with Game 1 of that series, and there have been plenty of questions surrounding which goaltender should get the start. Although the Wild have not officially named their starter for tonight's game, Minnesota Wild insider Mike Russo is now reporting reigning Vezina Trophy winner Marc Andre Fleury has taken the starters net during the Wild's morning skate on Monday.

This would appear to be an indication that Fleury will be the man getting the start for the Wild on Monday night, perhaps something that should not come as a surprise given that the Wild traded for him leading up to the National Hockey League's trade deadline. Not only does Fleury have a Stanley Cup championship pedigree as a goaltender but he won those Stanley Cups alongside current Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin, both during Guerin's time as a player and during Guerin's time as an NHL executive as well.

Since arriving in Minnesota Fleury has appeared in 11 games for the Wild, winning 9 of those, and has recorded a 2.74 goals against average and a .910 save percentage, both slight improvements on the numbers he was putting up with the Blackhawks earlier in the season.

There is an argument to be made though that 34 year old veteran Cam Talbot should have been given the start tonight. Talbot went on a 13-0-3 run to end the regular season and hasn't lost a game since the month of March. Talbot looked better than Fleury down the stretch, although how much of that had to do with Fleury adjusting to the Wild's system of play is debatable, and finished the season with a 2.76 goals against average and a .911 save percentage over 49 games played for the Wild this season.

A healthy competition between the 2 goaltenders will likely serve to push them both to greater heights than they would have achieved on their own, but this is going to be a difficult juggling act for Wild head coach Dean Evason as he heads into the playoffs.