Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Wild’s Backstrom will have surgery for sports hernia

Niklas Backstrom

Minnesota Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom, of Finland, in action against the San Jose Sharks during an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday, April 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

AP

Now that the Minnesota Wild have officially been eliminated from the playoffs, Niklas Backstrom has opened up about the injury that prevented him from logging a single minute in the first round.

He has a sports hernia and will have surgery, according to the Star Tribune’s Michael Russo.

Backstrom was initially projected to play in the Wild’s postseason opener, but he hurt himself during the pregame warm-ups.

You can see what happened below:

Josh Harding ended up starting in all five of the Wild’s game and held his own early in the series. Harding, who has multiple sclerosis, was limited to just 185 minutes of ice time in the regular season.

Backstrom turned 35 in February and is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Could this be how his tenure with the Wild ends?