Wild Ends Backup Question; Signs Harding

Ending speculation that the club might re-sign Jose Theodore or explore the backup goaltending market in free agency, the Wild re-signed goaltender Josh Harding to a one-year deal today. After missing all of last season with a torn ACL and MCL, Harding returns for at least one more year as Niklas Backstrom’s expected backup.

Wild.com will have more on the signing of Harding, as well as the re-signings of Drew Bagnall and Jed Ortmeyer. The club is also expected to sign former Vermont Catamount Kyle Medvec to an entry level deal today.

We will also be tracking all the moves in the NHL today, the first day of free agency.

Bagnall To Make NHL Debut Tonight

The Wild will close out the road portion of its regular season schedule tonight against the Edmonton Oilers. The Wild can make a bit of history with a win tonight. It would be the first time the club has won 20 road games, and it would also be the first time it has swept a six-game season series against an opponent.

Drew Bagnall, a former Hobey Baker finalist with St. Lawrence University, has been recalled and will be in the lineup tonight. Justin Falk was sent back to Houston to make room for Bagnall. Way back in October, it appeared that Bagnall had made the team out of training camp and he accompanied the team to Helsinki, Finland. Just before the opener, Bagnall learned he would be reassigned. He’ll finally get the chance to make his NHL debut tonight.

Chuck Kobasew, who was a late scratch last night due to a personal matter, made the flight to Edmonton and is expected to play tonight.

It was a tough night all around for the Wild last night, considering the Canucks shut them out, 5-0. Apparently it was also tough on rookie radio broadcaster Kevin Falness, who is filling in for Bob Kurtz on this road trip. This is Kevin on the flight to Edmonton last night:

I’m not sure if you’re aware, but the UMD Bulldogs are playing Michigan for the national championship tomorrow night. The Dogs came up with a victory over Notre Dame that featured a wild first period, an exciting second and a dry heave-inducing third period (for Bulldog fans).

Michigan played the perfect game yesterday and shut out North Dakota, much to the dismay of the thousands of Sioux fans, and much to the enjoyment of Wild players Eric Nystrom and John Madden.

Sorry boys, but this is the year of the Bulldog.

Heading To Finland?

I’m alone in the stands at Xcel Energy Center right now, and I’m looking at what will closely resemble the team that the Minnesota Wild will be taking to Finland on Thursday night.

First, Pierre-Marc Bouchard is one of the players out there. Todd Richards started off practice by welcoming him back, which was followed by stick-tapping from the entire team. “Butch” is the only skater in a charcoal grey jersey, which obviously means “do not hit unless you want to spend the rest of your career in Siberia.”

Now then, there are five players that are still here that could be considered “question marks,” or guys that were fighting for roster spots. They are forwards Matt Kassian and Casey Wellman, and defensemen Drew Bagnall, Justin Falk and Marco Scandella.

Although we don’t have official word, that likely means everybody who is not on the ice has been sent to Houston. Probably the biggest surprises are Robbie Earl and Nate Prosser. Earl saw a lot of time up here last year, and was one of the best players early in training camp. Prosser was solid in preseason games, but it appears that they want him to get more seasoning in Houston.

The most surprising name has to be Kassian. The rugged winger has turned some heads with his willingness to stick up for teammates and drop the gloves. He’s also shown some offensive skills, getting a couple chances in Saturday’s game against Philadelphia. Stay tuned to more news about today’s roster moves on Wild.com, where we’ll have feedback from Head Coach Todd Richards and General Manager Chuck Fletcher.