Josh Harding Activated Off IR, Placed On Waivers

Josh Harding appears to be ready for game action, as the Wild have activated the goaltender off the injured reserve. The team also placed him on waivers today, which means that he’s headed to the AHL Wild not for a conditioning stint, but on a longer-term basis. That also means that his team suspension has been lifted.

It wasn’t clear what the Wild would do once he was ready to return to action. Many — including me — speculated that the team might send him to Iowa on a conditioning stint, which wouldn’t require waivers. But it seems that he’ll be down there longer than the short-term requirement for conditioning reassignment. Michael Russo reports that “assistant GM Brent Flahr said a conditioning stint didn’t make sense because Harding is going to need a lot of time to practice and play.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Wild aren’t interested in having him at the NHL level, but he hasn’t played since December of 2013, so he may just need a little more time to get up to game speed and show that he’ll be in top form when and if he returns to the NHL level this season.

Harding is the final year of a three-year deal with an AAV of $1.9 million and an actual salary of $2.1 million, according to Cap Geek. It’s a one-way deal, so he will be getting that salary in Iowa or St. Paul.

Harding should clear waiver without issue, despite leading the NHL in save percentage and goals against average when he was playing last season. Russo explains some extenuating conditions that may dissuade teams from claiming him off waivers:

"Frankly, that wasn’t a healthy scenario either, in my opinion. The last thing the Wild needs is Darcy Kuemper looking over his shoulder at Harding, who isn’t close to returning.I cannot imagine Harding is claimed off waivers. Not only is his health an uncertainty and not only hasn’t he played in almost 11 months, the other 29 teams don’t have the experience of how to deal with his MS.Harding’s treatment and the protocols in place behind the scenes is something the Wild has a firm grasp of but other teams don’t. In other words, this is not a normal circumstance where a team just simply picks up an injured player. There needs to be a little expertise on how to deal with him, but we’ll see."

There are more than a few unknowns here that will be sussed out in the coming days and weeks. How long will Harding stay down there? Will Iowa hold three goaltenders or, if this will be a longer term stay for Harding, does that mean that John Curry gets reassigned to the Alaska Aces or Quad City Mallards? Does Harding even clear waivers? (And don’t forget that Curry is currently injured and Iowa has signed Parker Milner to a PTO to replace Curry with Johan Gustafsson taking the majority of the starts since then.)