Harding

[shovelguy]

I own Harding in a points only, 24 team, keep 11, 23 man roster league. As you can imagine goalies are scarace and was hoping on Harding to break through with the Wild.

With his diagnosis with MS, I'm not sure how to procede with this.

Do I protect another goalie (would be either Bachman, Allen, or Desjardins - not the greatest of choices), protect another skater (probably Timonen if he doesn't retire), or hold on and hope for the best and work on a solution for a second goalie once the game gets back on the ice.

What are other peoples thoughts on his long term value in hockey pools?

I'm not trying to be cold here. I understand there is a real human's health in question here and I wish Harding and anyone that suffers from MS all the best.

[Twiggy]

Personally I'd drop him.

My wife has MS, and is considered to have it rather mild. With that in mind she has had to cut back to 4 days a week and realistically if we could afford it she'd drop to 3. I admire his desire to fight on, but it's a seriously debilitating/draining illness. I atruggle to see him being able to continue the workload of a professional athlete. Thing he probably hasn't learnt yet is that he will be able to find energy to get through a game, but it's the day after that will smash him.

I wish him well, but my 2 cents fwiw

[27Blue]

agreed. it's a real unfortunate turn for harding and thumbs up to him for being positive about his situation, but his future as an nhl goalie is over... though, i am also saying this from the perspective of someone who has seen two people fall to ms... others, with more acute forms of the disease can endure rigorous activity much longer... i wish him well, but ms can be a nasty motherf*cker...

[bondon]

Don't worry, this is a fantasy hockey forum after all.

I'd have to agree with the others. It's gonna be a long shot for Harding to be able to continue to compete. Would have to see the rest of your team and who is available (more details)..odds are I'd go with Bachman.

[shovelguy]

Right now my non-keeper roster of players I'd remotely considering keeping are:

F - Kruger, Smith-Pelley, Pirri
D - Bergeron, Blum, Timonen
G - Allen, Bachman, Desjardins

It's not much. I was really banking on having Harding as my second goalie.

[mkl8687]

does this boost backstroms value since harding is no longer a threat to steal the job?

[ericdaoust]

Bachman is very underrated and should be protected over Harding. Sad but you have to separate the art from the artist. You have to do what is best for your team.

[Axeman33]

Originally Posted by mkl8687

does this boost backstroms value since harding is no longer a threat to steal the job?

I dont know if it boosts Backstoms value, but it certainly helps Hacketts. Not like he wasnt before, but he would be a guy I would be trying to acquire now.

[kevinsrangers]

i tgink it does boost backstrom as they were able to give him more games off because harding was pretty good. he may not get as many nights off now.
i think harding is still asvalueble or more valuble than Bachman, Allen, or Desjardins.

[holdUP]

I agree with kevinsrangers, I still think Harding is as/more valueable than those other 3.

I read a few comments from Jordan Sigalet. He was a Boston prospect who was also diagnosed with MS. He specifically mentioned the fact that it wasn't MS that ended his playing career, he decided on his own that it was time to move on. He was diagnosed in late 2003 I believe, his 2nd season with Bowling Green. He played another with Bowling Green, and 3 with Providence. He never played a ton of games (37, 25, 19 with Providence), but that's also a few years after he was diagnosed.

Was anyone expecting Harding to start more than 30/82 games any way? 3 or 4 years after being diagnosed, Sigalet played 37 and 25 games. To me, it's entirely possible Harding starts about 30 games... but I do realize that not every person is the same, so there's obviously some inherent risk in keeping Harding.