Who's the #1 goalie?
There’s a big question in Minnasota right now, and that is who will be the starter next year?
Backstrom is 2nd in the NHL in GAA, 2nd in SV%, and could be a candidate for the Vezina (behind Broduer, and Luongo). It’s sound like a stupid question now that i’ve showed you those stats, but he’s a 29 year old and is only playing his first year in the NHL, and could end up to be a bust, or end of being a top goalie for the next 5 or 6 years. If you did decide to resign how much should you resign him for? Obviously any team will try to get a player as cheap as they can, but he could say that he is a top end goalie, because of his stats this year, but he was just a free agent signing last year, and no one wanted him, so his play is either a fluke, or no one realize he had this much skill.
Now there’s Manny Fernendez, who is making 4.333 mil. for two more seasons, and deserves it, but that’s still quite a bit of money for a goalie who isn’t an elte goalie, and until this year when he’s been hurt the Wild have never been a tough team, but now with Backstrom I think they are big time contender’s for the Stanley Cup. It an obviously answer just trade Fernendez, but what if Backstrom plays bad, and Harding isn’t ready to carry a team, or even able to be a starter? What if that happens, and Backstrom get’s signed for 3.0 million+? Then again you can still get quite a bit for Fernendez, and lose his salary, improve in other area’s, Backstrom could be great, and Harding can play 10-15 game’s, and be able to give the Wild a chance to win.
Since were talking about Harding now what if Fernendez is traded, Backstrom resigns, and plays average, and then Harding come’s in plays great, and Backstrom can’t prove again that’s he worth anything, and the signing looks bad, and he’s just a waste of money? His SV% this year is .978 in 4 game’s, and what if he playsan entire season, and get’s .930, and Backstrom never get’s to prove him self.
This is a very tough question to answer, and I want to know what everyone else thinks they should do.