Niklas Backstrom’s groin injury: NHL regular season may be over for Minnesota Wild netminder-NHL News
The current regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL) is almost over for Minnesota Wild’s starting netminder, Niklas Backstrom, due to a groin injury.
Backstrom was injured in the game against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, March 01, 2012, and will need to rest four weeks at least, and by the time he reports back, the 2011-2012 NHL regular season might well be over.
He will certainly have no chance of playing this regular season if the recovery takes a rather lengthy period of time.
With Minnesota’s chances of reaching the playoffs in jeopardy, the player stands prone to be out of the team until the start of the next regular season.
So, the news of injury does not bode well into the player’s hopes of playing more hockey this season and the team’s ambitions of playing the second round of the league.
The coach, coach, Mike Yeo, while admitting this fact said:
"It's a tough one for us."
Yet he remained optimistic:
"Fortunately for us, we have two guys who've proven themselves. Obviously, [Hackett] doesn't have as much experience, but he's done a good job for us, so we're lucky to have him and [Harding]. This certainly could be a good opportunity for him here."
He was referring to Josh Harding who had replaced Backstrom for the remaining part of Thursday’s game and might be taking the goaltender’s role more frequently.
Yeo also hinted at the other option the team has in the presence of Matt Hackett who has been called in from their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate.
At the same time, the coach is confident that the injury of the player is not of serious nature and he might be able to return before the end of the regular season.
He said:
"It's a strain. There's no issue with his hip or anything like that. I'm not really good with a lot of this stuff, but it's my understanding that it's not as bad as some of the groin strains can be."
If the player takes only a couple of weeks on the recovery, which remains a possibility, it will certainly benefit the team.
His earlier comeback will be well within the team’s wishes and chances of claiming a berth into the playoffs.
At the moment, the team has an opportunity to reach the playoffs as it is not very far away from being among the top eight teams of the Western Conference that will qualify for the postseason.
They will be certainly looking to consolidate their position further to extend the lead in the division to guarantee a place in the playoffs.
At the same, they must be closely monitoring progress of their main competitors on the league’s points table.
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