Friday, March 02, 2012

Goalie Backstrom Out 4 Weeks

The injury news for Niklas Backstrom is already in from the Minnesota Wild and he is now expected to be out of the crease for the next 2-to-4 weeks with a groin strain,  Backstrom suffered the injury in the 1st period of the game against the Canadiens on Thursday night, having to leave the game with under three minutes played.  He was helped off the ice, unable to put any weight on the injured area, which makes this news less-than-surprising.

After a pretty rockin' start to the 2012 season, Backstrom's season really cooled down and now he is barely hanging onto a spot in the pool rankings that would consider himself one of 30 starting goalies in the league, according to pool point rankings.  As of Friday afternoon, Backstrom sits in 25th among all goalies with 17 wins, 4 shutouts and 2 assists for 44 points, which is also good enough for 98th overall.  This injury should not finish his season, but it will put a significant dent in his rankings, something that may play heavily at the pool draft next season.

ImplicationsAs it was noted earlier in the day, this injury won't have any effect on the money races in the draft or the sheet pool and since it is unlikely that the Wild are going to be participating in the playoffs this year, it certainly won't have any effect on the selection in that pool either.

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