Marc-Andre Fleury and Cam Talbot give Wild two solid goalie options — and tough decisions

The Wild just brought in the NHL's winningest active goalie, a player whose accolades read like the inscription for a Hall of Fame bust.

Marc-Andre Fleury is a three-time Stanley Cup champion with more than 500 victories and another 90 in the playoffs through 1,000-plus combined games.

"To be on the same team as Marc-Andre Fleury …," winger Marcus Foligno said.

Then there's the Wild's incumbent goalie, Cam Talbot, who's on the best run right now in the league.

He owns the longest active win streak at 6-0, one shy of matching his career high.

"Don't want to call it a 1-2," Foligno said. "It's a 1-1. Whoever's playing is going to be exciting to watch and exciting to play in front of."

Talbot's tear, coupled with Fleury's arrival on Monday in a blockbuster trade from Chicago, has reshaped the Wild's crease, giving the team an intriguing duo but one without a clear hierarchy.

"Hopefully it's tough decisions all the way through," coach Dean Evason said. "We're not changing our philosophy because we've got Marc-Andre Fleury here. We're going to evaluate after every game. We're going game by game."

This has been the Wild's approach all season long.

Of the 60 matchups Talbot and Kaapo Kahkonen handled before Kahkonen was traded to San Jose on Monday in a deal that sent defenseman Jacob Middleton to the Wild, Talbot started 37 and Kahkonen 23 — an approximately 60-40 split.

With Fleury and Talbot, that workload could trend closer to 50-50 because the Wild has five back-to-backs among the 21 games left in the regular season, a sprint to the finish line that could keep both netminders engaged.

"I love our goaltending," General Manager Bill Guerin said. "I do. I'm so confident in these two guys, and to have two experienced veteran guys that I know are going to get along real well and make this thing work, I'm really excited about seeing these two work together."

Guerin did communicate with Talbot leading up to Fleury's acquisition, which cost the Wild a second-round draft pick that could turn into a first rounder if the Wild makes it to the Western Conference final and the 37-year-old Fleury wins four games through the first two rounds.

Talbot, who is in the second season of a three-year, $11 million contract, praised Guerin for keeping him informed.

"Those aren't easy conversations to have with a guy and when he goes out and makes a deal like that and goes all in, it just kind of benefits the team really," said the 34-year-old Talbot, who posted his second shutout of the season on Monday by stopping 28 shots to blank the Golden Knights 3-0. "We had to come out here and know that he's gone all in for us, and we have to go all in for him now.

"I know we're going to be sharing the net here, so I just go out there and play my game when I'm in there and support him when he's in there."

Fleury, the reigning Vezina Trophy recipient as the NHL's top goalie, remembered meeting Talbot at a photo shoot a few years ago, but he acknowledged he didn't know Talbot too well.

That should change, with the two now tasked with teaming up to backstop the Wild to the playoffs.

"He just seems like a great guy, and I have a lot of respect for him and what he's done obviously," Fleury said. "To me, I don't like the competition between the guys, and I also think we're both part of the team and both want to help. So, I think we'll just do whatever we have to do to accomplish that."