panoo

By Scott Burnside
ESPN.com
Updated: June 3, 2007, 12:24 AM ET

OTTAWA -- Manny Fernandez could hardly have looked any more uncomfortable at Saturday's mini-NHL awards ceremony if he had sat on a broken goalie stick. Along with Minnesota Wild teammate Niklas Backstrom, Fernandez was honored with his first William M. Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals against during the regular season.

Yet, it hardly seemed like a celebratory occasion with the future so uncertain for both netminders, but especially Fernandez.

Backstrom, who came out of nowhere to take over the starter's role when Fernandez went down with an injured ligament, also captured the Roger Crozier Save Grace Award for the league's best save percentage during the regular season (.929). The native of Helsinki, Finland, will also become an unrestricted free agent this summer, setting up an interesting dilemma for Minnesota GM Doug Risebrough.

Backstrom was splendid from the time he took over right through the Wild's five-game loss to Anaheim in the first round of the playoffs. He is four years younger than Fernandez, who will be 33 in August, and seems, based on the short sample of his work, to be more even-keeled.

Because the free-agent goaltending market is as thin as it's been in years, Backstrom is looking at a potentially big pay day -- somewhere in the neighborhood of $3.5-$4 million a year.

But the belief is Risebrough will move to lock up Backstrom long-term and then deal Fernandez, who is more high maintenance and has two years left on a three-year deal at $4.33 million per year against the cap. Fernandez played only one game after the end of January. Prior to that, he suffered through a miserable stretch in November, when he lost eight of nine starts.

"The way I see it, we had a tough time because we had a lot of injuries in the middle of the season," Fernandez said after Saturday's ceremony. "The good thing is, I left on a good note. I think for the last 12, 13 games, I was getting my average back where I wanted and I was erasing the bad times that happened.

"I think I'm sitting in a good position," Fernandez added. "Which means, if I go back, I'm going to have a chance to play either way, and if I don't, then the team that picks me up obviously is going to give me a spot to play more. Either way, I think I'm sitting in a pretty good seat. I've got to do the same thing that I did last year and try and pick it up from where I left off."

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