Minnesota Wild goaltender Josh Harding out for the season
Minnesota Wild goaltender Josh Harding has torn both his ACL and MCL after a collision with forward Brad Boyes during a pre-season game against the St. Louis Blues on Friday night. It means that Harding
will require surgery that will end his season, and the Minnesota Wild are now without a backup goaltender.
Until the incident, Wild head coach Todd Richards and goaltending coach Bob Mason must have thought they had their goaltending situation solved with the 26-year-old Harding acting as the ideal backup to
sure starter Niklas Backstrom.
The injury leaves a gaping hole in the Minnesota Wild team, who have been systematically piecing together a competitive team by adding depth at just about every position during the off-season. The Minnesota
Wild were hoping to be competitive in a wide open Northwest division this year, and make it back into the playoffs after finishing a disappointing thirteenth in the Western Conference and eleven points out of playoff spot last season.
The Wild will either have to make a move to acquire another goaltender or look to their farm system to fill the whole left by Harding. Kazakh-born Anton Khudobin would be the likely candidate to step into
the supporting role. But Khudobin is largely unproven at the professional level and has given up four goals spread over pieces of two pre-season games already. The Wild have just over two million dollars in cap room, so there is a potential for them to find
another back-up to bring into the team.
Harding managed to make it through only 14 minutes of pre-season action before seeing his season come to an end. The 2002 second-round pick has played five seasons with the Wild. Last season he had nine
wins, twelve losses, and one shutout, in twenty-five games with the Wild.