Harding's Hopes Crushed; Who Gets The Call??

    Minnesota Wild backup goaltender Josh Harding rehabbed all summer long after April hip surgery and was determined to be in top shape come camp time. Harding was ready to show that he wasn't just a backup goalie, that he could play whenever his number was called on. He and Niklas Backstrom looked to be a very formidable pair going into the season. That was until the Wild played the St. Louis Blues in preseason action. Wild defenseman Greg Zanon checked Blues forward Brad Boyes directly into Harding leaving the goalie helpless. The pop he heard from his knee was all his hard work thrown into the well. Harding has undergone surgery to repair a torn ACL and MCL which basically ends his entire season.

    What will the Wild do at this point? The NHL saw a quick glimpse of third string Anton Khudobin last season and he performed admirably. Can Khudobin give the Wild the net presence that so many teams have with two very good goalies these days? Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher seems to think it's possible, but all signs point to Minnesota trying to land a more stable option. Either way a decision needs to be made because the team will be kicking off their season playing their first games in Finland as part of the initiative put in place by the NHL to grow the game globally.

"It could just simply be, 'Let's go with what we have"...Thursday we get on the plane (for Finland) and Anton's either coming or going because once we get there it's pretty hard to airlift a guy in."- GM Chuck Fletcher on Anton Khudobin.

    There has been speculation that Fletcher may try to make a deal for San Jose's Thomas Greiss who is stuck in a logjam situation. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense however seeing as Greiss isn't very experienced or proven in his own right. The best available option left to Fletcher is taking a look at Jose Theodore, who had a good season with a defensively erratic Washington Capitals team last year collecting a 30-7-7 record in 47 games (looks like solid starting numbers). Theodore certainly wouldn't cost that much money right now (judging by the market for his services at the moment) and could easily step in and play at least 25-30 games to keep Backstrom fresh throughout the stretch or even take over in the event Backstrom goes down for any length of time. The Wild need a spark this season and putting their insurance into an unproven goaltender looks like a move that could end up having Fletcher's squad in a not so decent conference standing when it comes to crunch time.

-Dustin Lundberg