The Minnesota Wild definitively ended any speculation they might be shopping their number one goalie before tomorrow's trade deadline by signing the Finnish netminder to a lucrative 4 year, 24 million dollar contract. Rumors had been circulating that the 31 year old goalie had been on the block, and that the Wild brass felt that any goaltender would be able to put up similar numbers to Backstrom's under coach Jacques Lemaire's stingy defensive system. With the 24 million dollar signing, however, it is clear that Minnesota Wild management see Backstrom as one of the elite goaltenders in the league.

Backstrom's numbers certainly back up this belief. He has won more than twice as many games as he has lost in his 3 years with the Wild, going 84-39-18 over that span, and his sparkling .924 save percentage further dispels the notion that he might not be as good as his miniscule 2.19 GAA implies. Remember, there used to be a lot of folks who said Martin Brodeur was also the beneficiary of playing for a Jacques Lemaire coached team. Well, Lemaire has been out of New Jersey for quite some time now, and Brodeur has done just swimmingly without him.

So yet another potential trade down the tubes. Will we see any action at all leading up to tomorrow's trade deadline, or are the tight playoff races, combined with the salary cap issues most clubs face going to make this trade deadline a dud. Here's hoping we see at least one two big deals to keep all of us armchair GMs interested, and TSN's insane 12 hours of coverage worth watching.

As I wrote earlier today (Derek Boogaard vs Andre Roy Hockey Fight) last night Minnesota Wild enforcer Derek Boogaard laid one of the hits of the year on Rene Bourque. Boogaard came steaming in as Bourque was circling around from behind the net. Irresistible force met a very movable object and Bourque went flying. Check out the video footage of the huge hit below:

Quite a game between the Calgary Flames and the Minnesota Wild last night. Emotions were high in this divisional match-up, and when the gargantuan Derek Boogaard wallpapered Rene Bourque with a monster hit last night tempers really boiled over. First, Rene Bourque, not about to take on the much larger, nastier Boogaard, found someone closer to his own size, throwing down with Nick Schultz. However, Calgary tough guy Andre Roy decided that justice still had not been served, gamely taking on Boogaard to avenge the hit on his teammate.

Admittedly I am a big fan of fighting in hockey. It was, is, and always should be part of the game. I think that eliminating fighting would only lead to a deadlier form of violence as players looked for some form of payback. However, when one fourth liner can't hit another fourth liner with a clean check without facing retribution even I have to admit that things are starting to get a little ridiculous. If Boogaard had leveled Iginla that would be one thing, but Bourque? With all the over-reaction to these situations it won't be long before players are scared to throw a clean hit for fear they might have to answer to the other team's goon. Now, I'm not saying that Derek Boogaard is ever going to be scared to throw a bodycheck, but smaller, less proficient fighters may be. I'd hate to see that happen.

Anyways, that's enough of a rant for now. You probably want to see some footage of the fights. Check both of the tilts out below. So far I've been unable to track down any footage of the Boogaard hit that started all the fun, but as soon as I can find a link I'll slap it up for you.

Rene Bourque vs Nick Schultz Fight



Andre Roy vs Derek Boogaard Fight