Harding's MS issues are a lot less worrysome now than they were last year. Last year he had just been diagnosed and was getting his medications all set, and that took a long time to do. Major ailments like that often take a very long time before you get the medications at that sweet spot where you maximize that positive effects and minimize the bad side effects.
And remember Harding has access to a much higher standard of medical care than any of us could really ever hope to, so his medications and their effects were probably monitored daily rather than the every couple of weeks which is what most people with chronic conditions have to go through in the process of finishing the medication balancing act.
Now that's in the past and he's gotten himself in balance again, and obviously he has done a tremendous job. He looks to be in top form. I would say he is twice the goalie Backstrom is at the moment. And remember he came back and played in the playoffs for us and gave us a shot at each game he appeared in.
He's got his MS handled. I don't think he's as vulnerable to going wonky on us as you think he is. Sure there will be rare occurances, but these couple of years on his contract are years where he is going to work his ass off because he is living his ****ing dream here, and he's not going to let MS take it away from him yet.
Yeah, he's not a viable long long term starter. But where he is right now he is very viable, and I think he should hold on to the starting job once Backstrom comes back. Who knows, maybe putting Backstrom into a backup role will let him get his game back up a little bit through rest and practice.
