The Minnesota Wild have agreed, in principle, to re-sign their starting goaltender Niklas Backstrom. Backstrom was set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
The deal is reportedly three years worth $10.25 million and the cap hit is $3.42 million per season, which is a reasonable price for the Wild.
Since Backstrom is 35-years-old his contract would fall under the 35+ rule of the collective bargaining agreement. If a player is 35 or older when they sign their contract then their salary counts towards the cap, no matter if they are playing with the team or not. If Backstrom were to retire before the length of the contract was up then the Wild would be stuck with his $3.42 million still counting towards the cap.
Backstrom played in 42 games last season for the Wild. He started in 41 of those games. The goalie posted a 24-15-3 record with a .909 save percentage and a 2.48 GAA. He also had two shutouts.
The Wild made the playoffs but backup goalie, Josh Harding, had to start because Backstrom was injured in a pre-game skate before game one of their first round series with the Chicago Blackhawks.
The 35-year-old is 184-124-45 in 369 career games played with a .917 save percentage, 2.43 GAA, and 28 shutouts. He was signed by the team in 2006 as a free agent.
The Wild only have about $3.3 million in cap space this season and could use one or both of their compliance buyouts to free up some cap space. One choice would be Dany Heatley, who has one year left on his contract at $7.5 million. The other choice could be defenseman Tom Gilbert, who has a cap hit of $4 million for next season.
Among the restricted free agents that the Wild will have to try and re-sign are forward Cal Clutterbuck, and defensemen Justin Falk and Jared Spurgeon. They are all under contracts but can sign an offer sheet from other teams that the Wild would have to match in order to keep them.
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