As the NHL trade deadline came to a close, one name no one expected to be included in a transaction was veteran netminder Niklas Backstrom of the Minnesota Wild.
Yet, with the final trades of the day announced and out in the open, Backstrom is indeed on the move – to the Calgary Flames, sending pending UFA David Jones back the other way.
Last trade: #Flames send UFA David Jones to #Wild for G Niklas Backstrom and a 6th round pick. Money move, gets Wild a pick. #TradeCentre
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 29, 2016
Backstrom was long considered the bona fide starter for the Minnesota Wild, playing for the Central Division club from 2006 to the end of the 2013-14 season. He boasts a Vezina finalist nomination, a silver medal at the IIHF World Championships, and the William Jennings Trophy for the goaltender with the fewest goals scored against in the regular season.
Injuries have hampered the Finnish netminder in recent years, though, so he’s fallen by the wayside for the Wild in lieu of Devan Dubnyk and Darcy Kuemper. That, plus his cap hit – a whopping $3.416 million per season through the end of this year – made him hard to keep on the roster, even just as a figurehead.
The Wild packaged the veteran with a draft pick to get secondary scoring from Flames forward David Jones. A pending UFA at the end of this year, Minnesota will have the choice to either re-sign him or let him go after the post-season – but as a secondary scorer, the 31 year old veteran could provide some value. He comes to Minnesota with nine goals and 15 points over 59 games this year.
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