Minnesota Wild Re-Signs Goalie Harding
July 30, 2009 by Jeanne Dupuis
Filed under Goalies, Minnesota Wild, NHL, Signings and Contracts
Backup goaltender, Josh Harding, has been given a contract extension by the Minnesota Wild in a move that will allow the young netminder and the team to avoid arbitration.
image: TSN
Harding will continue as the backup for Niklas Backstrom but I’d like to see him get a chance to start more games (maybe even with another team?). He played in 19 games last season and had a 2.21 GAA and a .929 save % but despite his impressive numbers, he went 3-9-1. Wow… In his 58 career games his record moves to 19-27-4 with a GAA of 2.49 and a save percentage of .920.
I think that Harding and Jaroslav Halak (Montreal Canadiens) are two very promising young goaltenders and I’d like to see them moving up the ranks. I had hoped that a team like the Calgary Flames would have picked up Harding so that he could remain in the Western Conference while providing a much needed backup to a goalie like Miikka Kiprusoff. There’s still time for a trade, though.
