The Minnesota Wild announced Thursday that goaltender Niklas Backstrom underwent successful sports hernia surgery and is expected to be fully recovered in time for the beginning of the 2013-14 season.
The procedure was done in Philadelphia by Dr. William Meyers.
Backstrom was injured in warm-ups before Game 1 of the team's Western Conference Quarterfinal series against the Chicago Blackhawks. Josh Harding started all five games of the Wild's series loss to the Blackhawks.
After Harding left Game 4 with an injury, Backstrom dressed and sat on the bench as the backup to Darcy Kuemper but did not see action. Harding returned to start Game 5.
Backstrom can become an unrestricted free agent this summer. The 35-year-old tied for the League lead with 24 wins in the regular season, with a 2.48 goals-against average and .909 save percentage. He has won 184 games in seven seasons for the Wild.
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