"This is not a major situation at all," GM Chuck Fletcher said. "This didn't come out of the blue. I've been talking to Josh for a while about this. He needs to make an adjustment in his protocols, and now is a good time to do it [with the Dec. 24-26 holiday break on the horizon]. The Wild's longtime No. 2 goalie never relinquished the No. 1 reins after Niklas Backstrom, the team's all-time leader with 186 wins, strained a knee October 8 in Nashville. Harding leads the NHL with a 1.51 goals-against average and is second with a .939 save percentage. Johan Gustafsson was recalled from Iowa of the American Hockey League to back up Backstrom, who presumably will start at least two of the next three games.