Wild re-sign Niklas Backstrom
The Minnesota Wild have re-signed goaltender Niklas Backstrom to a two year contract worth $6.2 million.
The Wild signed goalie Niklas Backstrom to a 2-year, $6.2 million contract today. The deal contains a limited no-trade clause, which means Backstrom can’t be traded during the first year of the contract and from Sept. 1 to Feb. 1 of the second year of the contract.
“Niklas’ character, his ability to adapt to the NHL and to a changing role, and his steadiness of play made him an increasingly valuable piece of our team,” said Wild General Manager Doug Risebrough in a news release. “Since Day 1 goaltending has been the foundation of our team, and, with Niklas re-signed, we are confident that position will remain one of depth.”
Backstrom was expected to return to Minnesota so this really isn’t a big surprise that the signed a deal before July.
Backstrom came to the Wild last season as an NHL rookie, although he was 29 after several successful seasons playing in Finland.
He was considered perhaps the best bargain in the NHL — leading the league in goals-against average and save percentage while making only $750,000 a year.
Backstrom teamed with Manny Fernandez to win the prestigious William Jennings Trophy for the fewest goals allowed in the regular season.
Signing Backstrom to a long-term contract could put the future of 32-year-old Fernandez in question.
Fernandez signed a three-year contract extension last year but missed the last three months of the season following a knee injury.
Why do I bring this up as a Wings’ fan? If Hasek does retire this year, the Wings will most likely go out and try to obtain a new goaltender instead of going with the Chris Osgood/Jimmy Howard duo. Backstrom would’ve been a candidate for the Wings. He’s out of the picture and JS Giguere is going to command a lot of money (plus he might want to just stay in Anaheim) so there isn’t a great market for teams needing strong goaltending this offseason. Hopefully, Hasek will decide to return for one more year and all this worry will be for naught.
Spector believes Manny Fernandez will be playing for a new team this season.
Minnesota’s retention of Backstrom came as no surprise, given his outstanding performance in the second half of the season and the playoffs filling in for the injured Manny Fernandez. Backstrom finished the season with the top save percentage (.922) and goals-against average (1.97) in the league, so there was no question of the Wild retaining him.
His re-signing does however raise the question of Fernandez’s future with the team. While management has suggested retaining the two, the fact is the Wild simply won’t be able to accomplish this if they’re to retain a tight budget as anticipated and still have available cap space to re-sign their key RFA players.
Fernandez has already made his unhappiness over the situation clear, and with Josh Harding having proven a capable backup for Backstrom, the question isn’t “if†Fernandez is dealt, but “when†and “where�
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2 Responses to “Wild re-sign Niklas Backstrom”
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June 7th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Fernandez will likely be available for little more then a song and dance from MN now that Backstrom is signed.
June 7th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Yeah, I’m sure they’re going to try to trade away Fernandez now because I don’t think he wants to play back-up when he could start somewhere else. And if Giguere re-signs with the Ducks, he’ll be worth more on the trading block so the Wild might get something nice in return. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Personally, I hope that Hasek just returns for one more year. Otherwise, I want Giguere.