Minnesota Wild re-sign Josh Harding to three-year, $5.7 million deal -NHL offseason Update
Minnesota Wild knows that having good goaltending is always key to being atop the league and successfully making the playoffs and re-signing Josh Harding to a three-year, $5.7 million deal is seen to be a welcomed step by the team on Tuesday, June 19, 2012.
Niklas Backstrom’s performance during the start of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season was not the only driving force that got Minnesota Wild on top of their conference. Josh Harding was also a major factor in that scenario as well.
"That's part of the reason we didn't trade him at the deadline," general manager, Chuck Fletcher, said. "We think our one-two tandem is as good as any other team's one-two tandem, and we didn't see any reason to change."
Josh Harding was on a one-year contract worth $750,000, which would have made him an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. This three-year deal will be the longest ever contract that the young goalie has signed, insuring him of $1.9 million each
year.
At the age of 28, Josh Harding realises that he is not as experienced as Niklas Backstrom and feels comfortable in that position, but for the upcoming regular season, he definitely wants to see more time on the ice coming his way.
"I pride myself in being a team-first guy, but I'm going to make it hard on them," Harding said. "I think I proved that a lot last year. I still know there's a lot left in me. I just want to make it a difficult decision for them, who to put out there."
Picked up as the 38th overall player during round-two of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by Minnesota Wild, Harding has played in seven seasons with his original draft team up until now.
"I pride myself in being a team-first guy, but I'm going to make it hard on them," Harding said. "I think I proved that a lot last year. I still know there's a lot left in me. I just want to make it a difficult decision for them, who to put out there."
Josh Harding has a total of 117 games played under his belt with an accumulated save percentage of .916 and 2.65 goals-against average.
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