How waiver exemption paved way for Backstrom's NHL career

by James Mirtle on Nov 13, 2009 1:49 PM CST Comment 2 comments

I have a few more details on how the Wild ended up landing Niklas Backstrom up at Globe on Hockey today, including the tidbit that Manny Fernandez was on the trade block long before he was ever salary dumped to Boston in 2007. It's hard to believe, too, that they thought they had their No. 1 in Josh Harding more than three years ago, and he's still muddling along as a backup.

Who is and isn't waiver eligible has become a big deal under this new CBA, and it's interesting how Minnesota seemingly found a bit of a workaround to the three goalie problem we've seen crop up over and over postlockout. I think we'd see this happen a lot more if European goalies were more willing to play in the minors in order to earn a shot at the NHL.

Talking to Backstrom earlier this week, you got the sense he had always wanted that NHL shot and just never got it. He also said he didn't feel he was a late bloomer, given he was one of the top netminders in Finland at junior age, but that 10 years ago, there just weren't as many opportunities for European goalies. (Although Kiprusoff, Toskala, etc. were drafted.)

Top goaltenders postlockout (by save percentage)

Rk	Player	GP	W	L	T/OT	SO	GAA	SV%
1	Niklas Backstrom	186	100	53	23	17	2.27	0.922
2	Jonas Hiller	83	39	28	3	5	2.37	0.921
3	Tomas Vokoun	246	123	90	26	22	2.58	0.921
4	Tim Thomas	228	111	78	29	15	2.58	0.919
5	Craig Anderson	100	41	30	14	8	2.70	0.918
6	Cristobal Huet	184	96	60	18	17	2.44	0.918
7	Martin Brodeur	274	165	86	23	27	2.31	0.917
8	Roberto Luongo	292	156	101	31	25	2.51	0.917
9	Henrik Lundqvist	281	150	89	35	21	2.33	0.916
10	Dominik Hasek	140	93	31	13	18	2.09	0.914
11	Chris Mason	183	85	64	21	17	2.54	0.914

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Comments

I really feel sorry for Harding. He has a lot of potential but has never been given the opportunity to shine.

by yankeeken on Nov 13, 2009 6:20 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

He’s still quite young. Younger than all the guys on that list, actually.

And, despite what the stats say, I’d rather have 7-10 on that list than any of the top 6. Well, maybe not Hasek anymore, but you get the picture.

SV% seems to be less and less indicative of talent with every season. Not that it’s irrelevant, just that the best goalies often are a little lower on the list.

Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.

by saskhab on Nov 13, 2009 11:55 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

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