Player of the Week - Nov. 7

The Hockey News player of the week for the period of Oct. 31-Nov. 6, 2011 is a surprising one: Minnesota Wild goaltender Josh Harding.

Harding, who missed all of last season with torn ligaments in his knee, usually plays backup to Niklas Backstrom, but with the Finn struggling, Harding started three games.

Harding allowed one goal in each game against Detroit, Vancouver and St. Louis. All in all, Harding turned aside 90 of 93 shots on the week.

With a 4-0-1 record, 1.18 GAA and .965 SP, Harding is making people look twice.

Despite the struggles of Backstrom, the Wild are 7-3-3, good enough for fourth in the Western Conference.