KHL team Dynamo Minsk has lined up a “top-level” goaltender from the NHL as a lockout signing after an injury to the Minnesota Wild’s Niklas Backstrom put his proposed move in doubt, the team’s sports director Igor Matushkin said Monday.
Backstrom is with the team for medical tests to assess whether he is fit enough for a signing, Matushkin said.
“If Niklas Backstrom is not able to take part in matches from the very start then another goaltender will join our team,” Matushkin said on the team website.
“I can only say now that he is a goaltender from the top level of the NHL. Regarding his name, I think I’ll be able to answer you tomorrow.”
The team from Belarus had been in the hunt for Montreal Canadiens forward Mikhail Grabovski before he joined CSKA Moscow, which Matrushkin said had left him “disappointed.”
Dynamo is 13th of 14 teams in the Western Conference after its first eight games of the 52-game season yielded just three wins.
