A fixture in the Minnesota Wild net since 2006-07, Niklas Backstrom is entering the final year of his contract and, unless the team does something between now and the end of the season, the goalie will become a free agent. He says it is not something he thinks about. He just shrugs and says he doesn't know what the organization is thinking. "I have no idea," he said. "You know what? Maybe it's because of the lockout or whatever but I haven't thought about next year. I was only worried about this year and if we were going to play hockey or not. Especially with the lockout, every day was really long. It's not my first time. It's part of the game and it's something you learn during the years playing hockey or you learn in life. It's just not good for you to worry about things that are out of your control."