UFA Watch: Josh Harding

(picture courtesy of nhlsnipers.com)

The Minnesota wild will have a difficult time signing UFA goaltender and career backup Josh Harding to sign with them before July 1st. The 26 year old Regina, Saskatchewan IMO would look great battling with Devan Dubnyk for the starting position next year. But Edmonton already has both Devan Dubnyk and Nikloai Khabibulin right? Well considering the Russian stanley cup winner has an abysmal .892 save percentage and and 3.32 GAA he isn't exactly living up to expectations.

Sure, Harding might have some padded statistics for a team that doesn't give up a whole lot of quality shots. Still, he has had 2,240 shots against in 83 NHL games for an average of 27 shots against a game. Khabibulin on the other hand has average 27.9 shots against per game with a career save percentage of .907. This doesn't even consider Hardings career year of .929 save percentage and 2.21 GAA in the NHL. Normall this isn't something that you would consider too highly, but he is only one year removed from these numbers.

As far as his winning percentage goes, he has won 28 games and lost 39 games at the NHL level. Although these numbers are concerning, his numbers in the AHL are MUCH better. Harding has shown that he can be successful in the AHL with 67 wins and only 40 losses.

I still would like to see Edmonton persue a goalteder like Tuuka Rask out of boston or Michal Neuvirth out of Washington is the price wasn't too high. However if the asking price is too high then Harding could be a peice of the puzzle for free.