Wild Sign Backstrom to Four-Year Extension

In a much anticipated move, the Minnesota Wild announced on Tuesday that they have re-signed goaltender Niklas Backstrom to a four-year contract worth $24 million. The deal averages out to $6 million per season. The Wild have been negotiating with their number one goalie on a new contract for some time now and wanted to get him under contract before he became an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Backstrom has had a fine season thus far, appearing in 51 games with a record of 28-18-6 with a GAA of 2.24 and a save percentage of .925. He was signed as a free agent during the summer of 2006 and has played with the Wild for the past three seasons. Backstrom had recently become the subject of trade rumors with plenty of speculation he would traded at the deadline if a new contract was not in place. Finally all the silly rumors of Backstrom getting traded can be put to rest! This move comes as no surprise and the Wild would not have moved him even if his new contract was not signed until after the deadline. If the Wild are to make the playoffs, they are going to need Backstrom there to backstop the team.