Josh Harding (Expected to retire)

[ScJeff]

Why haven't we placed Harding on LTIR? Seriously; he has MS. I think that's enough to place him on LTIR. This is such a failure by the organization to address this concern since it was known. There was no reason after the first 'setback' to keep Harding active. Doesn't matter if Harding feels like it. The organization should have told Harding he was done, he has a job with the team if he wants it in some way, and place him on the LTIR. I wonder how much more damage we've done to him by not forcing him to face the reality of it all.

Was it a nice narrative? Certainly but his health and life should have been more important than his damn career.

And if hockey is his life and he is willing to put in the effort to come back time and time again? Im sure he wouldnt be doing it if it was truely detrimental to himself long term. How does MS get damaged and progressed by trying to in top physical shape and exerting yourself in exercise?

 

[BigT2002]

Why haven't we placed Harding on LTIR? Seriously; he has MS. I think that's enough to place him on LTIR. This is such a failure by the organization to address this concern since it was known. There was no reason after the first 'setback' to keep Harding active. Doesn't matter if Harding feels like it. The organization should have told Harding he was done, he has a job with the team if he wants it in some way, and place him on the LTIR. I wonder how much more damage we've done to him by not forcing him to face the reality of it all.

Was it a nice narrative? Certainly but his health and life should have been more important than his damn career.

Fiancee has MS. She can still play volleyball and swim on the same treatment that Josh was originally taking. He moved from one to another and it screwed with his body because of how it attempts to counter act the white blood cells from attacking his nervous system.

E:60 also just did a piece on a High School girl with MS who was one of the fastest runners in NC. She would lose feeling in her legs every race and needed her coach to stop her at the finish line because she couldn't stop and needed ice immediately on her body to get the sensation back. Her neurologists said the same thing the four we went and saw said: it isn't going to hurt you anymore than it already is. Fiancee loses sensation in her legs and that is it so far. It won't get any worse just because she is active.

 

[thestonedkoala]

And if hockey is his life and he is willing to put in the effort to come back time and time again? Im sure he wouldnt be doing it if it was truely detrimental to himself long term. How does MS get damaged and progressed by trying to in top physical shape and exerting yourself in exercise?

Dehydration? Medication issues? Ultimately, the Wild should have placed Harding on the LTIR and moved on.

Fiancee has MS. She can still play volleyball and swim on the same treatment that Josh was originally taking. He moved from one to another and it screwed with his body because of how it attempts to counter act the white blood cells from attacking his nervous system.

E:60 also just did a piece on a High School girl with MS who was one of the fastest runners in NC. She would lose feeling in her legs every race and needed her coach to stop her at the finish line because she couldn't stop and needed ice immediately on her body to get the sensation back. Her neurologists said the same thing the four we went and saw said: it isn't going to hurt you anymore than it already is. Fiancee loses sensation in her legs and that is it so far. It won't get any worse just because she is active.

Good to know, but aren't all medical conditions different and as you mentioned, didn't Harding change up his treatment?

 

[J22*]

Dehydration? Medication issues? Ultimately, the Wild should have placed Harding on the LTIR and moved on.



Good to know, but aren't all medical conditions different and as you mentioned, didn't Harding change up his treatment?

Do you even understand what LTIR is, or how it works? Who benefits from Harding going on LTIR?

 

[Al Lagoon]

I hope the Wild make known the details of the broken foot incident some day, if only to clear up the confusion fog about it.

 

[gphr513]

I hope the Wild make known the details of the broken foot incident some day, if only to clear up the confusion fog about it.

I doubt they ever will. What would they have to gain by releasing that info?

 

[Al Lagoon]

I doubt they ever will. What would they have to gain by releasing that info?

Harding took a lot of #$$% about it - if the story about him not letting someone drive drunk is true, i wanna know.

 

[rynryn]

Harding took a lot of #$$% about it - if the story about him not letting someone drive drunk is true, i wanna know.

what **** did he take. would it be in anyone's interest to know if, say, Harding was the drunk guy who didn't get his keys? Or if it was Parise who was loaded? you can see why it's in no one's interest to say anything.

 

[gphr513]

Yeah, don't hold your breath. I'd be shocked if the story ever comes out in any sort of official matter.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Do you even understand what LTIR is, or how it works? Who benefits from Harding going on LTIR?

Long term injury. See Pronger. You can't tell me the Wild couldn't petition the league to place Harding on LTIR after his first set back. You can't tell me that MS is not an illness or an injury that could ultimately end Harding's career back then or he wouldn't miss 24 games. It would have been a boon for both Harding and the Wild.

If not LTIR due to cap reasons, Minnesota should have used their 2nd waiver on him.

 

[J22*]

Long term injury. See Pronger. You can't tell me the Wild couldnt petition the league to place Harding on LTIR after his first set back. You can't tell me that MS is not an illness or an injury that could ultimately end Harding's career back then. It would have been a boon for both Harding and the Wild. If not LTIR then should have bought him out using a waiver.

Ok, I will ask again, who benefits from putting Harding on LTIR?

 

[thestonedkoala]

Ok, I will ask again, who benefits from putting Harding on LTIR?

Harding because he no longer has to worry about playing and gets paid. Minnesota because they don't have to worry about Harding and realize they need to get another goaltender. Instead of playing the what if game with Harding, the Wild have to face the realization they don't have a short term or long term solution in goal. I would have used the waiver on him but apparently the Wild didn't. If not the waiver, the LTIR so that while it counts against the cap, it doesn't count against the cap.

 

[J22*]

Harding because he no longer has to worry about playing and gets paid. Minnesota because they don't have to worry about Harding and realize they need to get another goaltender. Instead of playing the what if game with Harding, the Wild have to face the realization they don't have a short term or long term solution in goal. I would have used the waiver on him but apparently the Wild didn't. If not the waiver, the LTIR so that while it counts against the cap, it doesn't count against the cap.

Do you think that just maybe there's a chance that Harding would actually like to keep playing? The Wild would not get another goalie if Harding was on LTIR, they have their 2 NHL goaltenders and have their prospect developing in Iowa. You can argue all day long if those goalies are the right goalies to have, but putting Harding on LTIR wouldn't change anything. LTIR cap space is irrelevant when you already have over $7M in actual cap space.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

Do you think that just maybe there's a chance that Harding would actually like to keep playing? The Wild would not get another goalie if Harding was on LTIR, they have their 2 NHL goaltenders and have their prospect developing in Iowa. You can argue all day long if those goalies are the right goalies to have, but putting Harding on LTIR wouldn't change anything. LTIR cap space is irrelevant when you already have over $7M in actual cap space.

Yep. Unless we were spending right up to the cap I don't see why we would put harding on LTIR. There's no benefit. LTIR doesn't give you the extra cap space daily that real cap space does.

 

[WildGopher]

Harding because he no longer has to worry about playing and gets paid. Minnesota because they don't have to worry about Harding and realize they need to get another goaltender. Instead of playing the what if game with Harding, the Wild have to face the realization they don't have a short term or long term solution in goal. I would have used the waiver on him but apparently the Wild didn't. If not the waiver, the LTIR so that while it counts against the cap, it doesn't count against the cap.

If Harding wants to continue to play, what message would it send to the other players to have the team dump a guy who's clearly got the skill to deserve a shot, but the team doesn't back him when he's hit with a challenge like that, but just dumps him? I know these guys are mercenaries to an extent, but you can't underestimate the team aspect of this, either. When Kurtis Foster blew up his leg on the icing play and the Wild didn't know if he'd ever even skate again, they qualified him to hold a spot if he could make it back. That sent a message to every player on the team that the Wild had their back. Try building a strong sense of team without a culture like that - I don't think you can do it.

 

[StealthClobber]

Josh Harding is expecting to retire.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=767379&navid=nhl:topheads

Sad news. I can only imagine how good he would have been this season if not for MS and the now infamous wall kicking.

 

[00xtremeninja]

best of luck to him and appreciate his service.

 

[gphr513]

A bummer to see a promising career cut short by illness.

Best of luck in his future endeavors.

 

[Engebretson]

Sad to hear him having to retire because of MS, but at least now he can focus on doing what he can to keep his MS under control without the pressures of the NHL.

Best of luck, Josh.

 

[Bruce Granville]

I guess his record stands forever.

Best of luck.

 

[Marlowe Syn]

This has been rattling around in my brain now that Harding is done. Going back to the 2002 draft would you want us to draft Harding again? Obviously with the benefit of hindsight, I'm sure we all would pick Duncan Keith. As he was drafted 54th, he would have been a real off the board pick. So i guess it is more, do you think we got reasonable value from him?
I think we did. Goalies are always a bit of a crapshoot, no matter where you draft them. He did buck the odds and became on the whole a quality back-up, poised to be our starter. There is always that what could have been with him, but I think he was a good pick. Injuries and of course MS derailed him, but I think we got some quality play out of him as well. Certainly played better than DesLauriers.

 

[TaLoN]

We got good value... would have been even better value had he not gotten such bad luck.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Josh Harding is a tank. Would have foreseen multiple Vezina nominations if not for incredibly bad luck. He was on another level than any Wild goalie I'd ever seen.

 

[Circulartheory]

The guy had a mix of calmness and positioning with the ability to make desperation saves. We haven't had a goalie that can do both calm and desperate saves at high levels. Harding is really my idol and really sucks about all his illness.

 

[Minnesota]

Josh Harding is a tank. Would have foreseen multiple Vezina nominations if not for incredibly bad luck. He was on another level than any Wild goalie I'd ever seen.

What...?

He was on the cusp of becoming a starter. Mentioning Harding and Vezina in the same sentence is pretty far fetched. He never had a chance to prove himself.