Theodore Signs With the Wild

Ever since the injury to Josh Harding, the Minnesota Wild have been tied to Jose Theodore in the rumour mill and likely for good reason. Theodore was an unrestricted free agent with some pretty decent numbers behind him from last season and since we've already started to see veterans start to take less money for a job, it was looking more and more like a perfect fit. Well, you couldn't stop fate on Saturday, as a 1-year, $1.1 million deal was completed between Theodore and the Wild, likely giving Niklas Backstrom some quality back-up games at the very least, while challenging for the number one job at the same time.

With the Washington Capitals in 2010, Theodore had a pretty good year, having 4 more wins than his new counterpart in Minnesota.  Theodore went 30-7-7 with a shutout and an assist with the Capitals, but still, that wasn't quite enough to be the team's number one goalie going into the playoffs, deciding to go with Semyon Varlamov for a second straight run.  Theodore should bring some valuable experience to the position in Harding's absence.

This late addition to the Wild line-up will not help anyone in either pool for the foreseeable future. We'll have to wait nine weeks before there is a waiver draft in the draft pool and by then, we'll all know what Theodore is capable of and likely what he's going to do for the rest of the season by then. The selection sheet pool is totally locked in and choosing Harding will not give you Theodore by default. If you pick Harding, you'll get a lump that is sitting on the sidelines for the whole season.

With a couple more cuts to go, some shifting around of some goaltending to the injury list, the Wild camp list on my machine currently sits at 25 players and one buyout for an annual salary cap hit of $58.4 million, which is safely below the salary cap ceiling for 2011.  The extra cuts should make them into a very cap-flexible team this year, but it will be their play and their placement in the standings that will help management decide whether or not they will be buying or selling at the deadline.

For $1.1 million, I don't think the Wild can really lose in this deal.  Theodore will likely give them reasonable minutes and possibly challenge Backstrom for the number one job this season, but I'm thinking that this probably isn't going to be enough to save the Wild's season from being on the outside looking in when the playoffs start.  They will likely be a tough team to play against, but I just don't see it going much further than that.