Josh Harding is once again beginning to water his roots with the Minnesota Wild.
The former NHL goalie, who was forced to retire in 2015 due to complications from multiple sclerosis, finds himself rooting for his former club, and was recently invited by owner Craig Leipold to attend a couple Wild home dates.
Harding says he watches all the Wild games on TV and admires Devan Dubnyk's work in net, but observing rather than playing the game is a bittersweet feeling, he told Michael Russo of the Star Tribune.
"I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss it every day," Harding said. "More than anything, I wanted to thank Mr. Leipold for all he did for me and my family. It was long overdue. You grow up a little bit and you come to terms with everything."
Harding, who only ever played for the Wild at the NHL level, signed a three-year, $5.7-million contract that expired in 2015. Apart from family life, he works with a nearby high school team.
Hardinal also explained the details of his hospitalization in 2014 as a result of dehydration during an AHL game, and admits continuing to play could have been disastrous, to the say the least.
"(Doctors) told me if I kept going, 'It’s not going to end well,'" Harding said. "It was the first time I realized it wasn’t just how much I was going through, it was how much I was putting everybody else through. I still had people that loved me, still had people that I loved that are more important than this game."
The Wild clinched a playoff spot Saturday, and will enter the postseason with the knowledge a former teammate is very much behind them.
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