How productive is Backstrom? Stats say not very.

This season? Yeah, he’s having an off year, but overall? And does it take into consideration minutes played?

I don’t know – everyone seems to want to create a formula to rank player against player. I’m just not sure that it can be done effectively/accurately. I would think that minutes played, penalty kill minutes and the guys playing in front of him would have a big impact on a goal tenders performance. How do you take those into consideration?

Backstrom is considered one of the best in the game by everyone except this guy. Hockey is not a “Moneyball” sport. The numbers do not tell anywhere near the whole story. If Harding were the full time goalie through those games in October, the Wild would have lost more of them, and they would have lost by more.

Multiple odd man rushes in every game, defensive break downs at every turn, lack of scoring. The goalie has always been the broad shouldered individual to whom the wins and losses fall. It has never been fair. Hockey is a team game. The five guys in front of him have more to do with it than the guy in net.

You have to think of the mental wear that Backstrom goes through every time his team leaves him high and dry.

From a fantasy sports view: yes, he’s doing awful.

From a competition perspective: he’s doing everything he can to keep his team competitive, and the Wild would be lost without him. Things are going to get better for him and hopefully his statline will show it next year.