Fan favorite Niklas Backstrom is a goalie for the Minnesota Wild and has seen playing time increase ever since the 2006-2007 season when original starter goalie, Manny Fernandez, was sidelined due to a knee injury. In fact, the 2006-2007 season was Backstrom's first with the Wild. Although originally slated to be a back-up player, Backstrom saw lots of action starting halfway through the season and he racked up impressive statistics. Backstrom played 2227 minutes throughout the season .92 shots saved and 5 shut-outs.

During his 2007-2008 season, Backstrom played in 58 games for 3,408 minutes and became a key member of the Wild's success. Backstrom posted 4 shutouts and 1629 saves. In playoffs against Colorado, Backstrom made set the franchise playoff record of an impressive 44 saves in a single game which led to a victory in overtime.

Niklas Backstrom's career before signing with the Wild in June 2006 was filled with international play and tournaments, primarily with the Karpat Finland team since 1996. Backstrom was born February 13, 1978 in Helsinki, Finland and still lives there during the off season. Backstrom was also part of Team Finland in the 2006 Winter Olympics, though he did not see any ice time.

Niklas Backstrom is still evolving as a Wild player under the leadership of Coach Jacques Lemaire. After originally signing a one year contract in 2006, Backstrom negotiated an additional two year deal worth $6.2 million. He will now be a Wild player through the 2008-2009 season. After that, Backstrom said he expects to be traded though, depending on his performance, the Wild may want him back.

Tomorrow, I will start my daily segment of Minnesota Wild Player profiles. I will post a new player every day and my profiles will appear in no particular order. I will attempt to provide neutral, factual information. Check back every day to see who I profile next!

Here is a hint on tomorrow's spotlight Minnesota Wild Player: His first name means "Victorious People" according to one of those name heritage web sites.

For the coming season, the Minnesota Wild has 14 players under contract and three more whose rights the Wild retain. These 17 players are: left wingers Stephane Veilleux and Derek Boogaard; right wingers Marian Gaborik, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Mark Parrish; centers Mikko Koivu, Eric Belanger and James Sheppard; defensemen Nick Schultz, Kim Johnsson, Brent Burns, Martin Skoula, Kurtis Foster, Marc-Andre Bergeron and Erik Reitz; and goaltenders Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding. Veilleux, Bouchard and Foster are not signed.

Over the next week or so I am going to spotlight some of these players on Hockey Wilderness. So check back to Hockey WILDerness and read the bios of my favorite Minnesota Wild players...well, my favorite Minnesota Wild Players with a contract, at least.

The Minnesota Wild has yet to sign Brian Rolston to a contract, but they have signed their broadcasters!

The Minnesota Wild decided to keep their TV and radio personalities in tact for the 2008-09 season. I guess I am not that surprised and I personally don't have any complaints about the announcers (but there are plenty of Minnesota WIld fans that do - share your terrible announcer storeis - here!). I like to hear what Mike Greenlay has to say about the teams dynamics. He mostly comments about the Minnesota Wild defense and I think that has to do with his experience as a former goaltender, but it works since Jacques Lemaire plays such a defense focused style of hockey. I also enjoy Greenlay's comments about the Anaheim Ducks. Like a lot of Minnesota Wild fans, I feel an intense rivalry with the Ducks and despite the fact that Greenlay was the radio analyst for Anaheim for a couple of years, I get the feeling he loathes the Anaheim Mighty Ducks team as much as I do.

Dan Terhaar will return to the television play-by-play spot for the Minnesota Wild and Bob Kurtz and Tom Reid (Tom Reid's Hockey Pub is a must see for any hockey fan, but it gets crazy on game days - be prepared to wait!) will return the WCCO 830 AM airwaves. All of these guys are Minnesota Wild regulars and are a cornerstone part of this hockey Wilderness!

I hate the fact that NHL makes rule changes just to make changes. I know they say the changes are recommended by the general managers and approved by the competition committee, but some of the changes are a bit off mark.

Change #1: a change to Rule 76.2 will place the first faceoff of a power play in the defending zone of the team that committed the foul. WHAT? I thought a team was supposed to earn the territory, not be handed the zone. The refs are lousy at calling accurate penalties 99% of the time and now we are going to give the favorable team an extra man AND an offensive face off. Crazy. I know the NHL wants to increase scoring, but earning the goals the old fashioned way will increase fan support. Remember the skate, skate, pass, pass, shoot? Apparently, skating is not a priority to the NHL.

Change #2: a change to Rule 85.5 states that if a puck is shot off the goal frame, goal post or crossbar, the subsequent faceoff will remain in the end zone where the puck went out of play. OK. WHATEVER.

Change #3: a change to Rule 81.1 states that "any contact between opposing players while pursuing the puck on an icing must be for the sole purpose of playing the puck and not for eliminating the opponent from playing the puck." The amended rule further states that "unnecessary or dangerous contact could result in penalties being assessed to the offending player." HALF-A$$ and you know it. This rule change came as a direct result of the Wild's own Kurtis Foster leg injury. San Jose rookie Torrey Mitchell chased down Foster on a potential icing call, made contact and Foster slammed into the boards breaking his leg, badly. It was a season ending injury, but could have easily been a career ending injury. This rule change is a false attempt to save lives. The NHL knows they need to do something to cover their butts in case it happens again, but they aren't willing to go to a no-touch icing.

It was a busy weekend for the Minnesota Wild and the NHL. Sure it was the beginning of summer, but it was also the NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa and what an interesting couple of days it was.

Minnesota Wild general manager Dougie and his cronies spent Friday night working out deals to move around in the draft selection. Either they wanted to go earlier than their original 24th pick or they wanted to get something in return and just go later. In the end, the Wild powers that be swapped first-round picks with New Jersey and threw in next year's third-round pick to move up to the 23rd spot...LONG DRAMATIC PAUSE...

The Minnesota Wild selected Tyler Cuma as their first round draft pick, No. 23 overall. Cuma is a tough defenseman. He weighs in at 6-2 and 180 pounds. I think he could use some Minnesota home cooking to beef him up a bit, but overall he has a positive attitude and aspires to be a top hitting physical force in the NHL. Cuma is happy to be drafted into the Hockey Wilderness (see my Tyler Cuma fanshots for his quote) now let's just see how he holds up in camp. I won't be rushing out to buy my Tyler Cuma jersey anytime soon and I won't be scratching my head if he doesn't show up starting on the Minnesota Wild roster, but he is as good a choice as any. Welcome to Minnesota Tyler Cuma. Welcome to the Hockey WILDerness!

Wes Walz, what will he do next? After taking his break with the Minnesota Wild at the beginning of last season and then officially retiring from the NHL, Walz has been laying low. I half expected him to show up announcing alongside Darby Hendrickson at the Minnesota State High School games, but he was a no show.

Now the word on the street is that Wes Walz would consider a coaching job in Tampa Bay. Has Wes even coached anything other than his kids little league team? Probably not. But he is good hockey player and a strong leader. I am a little worried his mental OCD could get in the way, but I suppose if he wore the same tie every game and had all of his notes left justified, things would be fine. I guess time will tell where Wes Walz will end up.

Before the start of every Minnesota Wild home game, the fans sing the Wild anthem , the lights go crazy on the ice, there is smoke and horns and then a little kid skates onto the ice and plants the Minnesota Wild state of hockey flag at center ice. It is an awesome moment for the fans and I always thought how cool it would be to be that kid skating on the Xcel Energy Center ice in front of 18,000 fans. Well, I see on the Minnesota Wild’s website this week there is information on how to sign-up to be that special flagbearer kid.

The catch? You pretty much have to be a Minnesota Wild season ticket holders kid. Sure, there are the regular rules about age limits and knowing how to skate, but there is one eligibility requirement that I think is extremely cheap – you  (and I quote)“must be able to provide own tickets for appointed game (including ticket for participating child)”  

What?!?! You apply for a once in a lifetime opportunity to carry the Minnesota Wild flag to center ice and you have to buy your own Minnesota Wild ticket?  That seems insane. What if the game you got selected for was sold out? You would have to forfeit your spot. That just seems sad. I guess you could always buy tickets from a ticket broker like Ticket King , but it seems cheesy that the Wild couldn’t provide two tickets – one for the child and one for a guardian. Come on, Minnesota Wild, where is your community spirit and sense of giving?

I got an email from Josh Rachbach at www.brainspraymedia.com awhile back pimping out this “So Into The Wild” youtube film they put together. If you have five minutes to waste today, take a look at it. I admit I watched it, I am not sure I “got” it, but I found the mispronunciation of Marian Gaborik’s name rather funny and then there is a funny pot pie moment as well.

Here is the email from Josh explaining the film.

Hello - 

 

How are you? Excellent. We're a small group of filmmakers from LA who have featured The Wild and Gaborik in a parody of last years Sean Penn film "Into the Wild," meaning, into the Minnesota Wild. The short film features a man obsessed with Marian Gaborik and a fictional contest that will land him a motorcycle ride with the star captain.

If you've seen the film we think you'll love the parody, and we thought your audience might enjoy the short. It's kind of a cross between Coen Brothers and Juno, and clean for all audiences. Hot dog.

Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U22HPOxCixA

PS - The Gaborik pronunciation was done on purpose. We are Wild fans after all.....

The Minnesota Wild are really perplexing me with their latest off-season moves, signing Erik Reitz, signing Marc-Andre Bergeron . I know they are trying to build a new roster while still maintaining the budget, but I wish the Wild were spending more time figuring out how to close the deal with Brian Rolston and either extend or release Marian Gaborik. That is the kind of Minnesota Wild news that I would like to report and comment on - moves that are going to make a real difference next year.