wild/nhl

Desperate to clear salary cap space as the free agency period opens today, the Wild traded goaltender Manny Fernandez and his $4.33 million salary to the Boston Bruins.

The Wild will receive prospect Petr Kalus, a 6-1, 195-pound skilled power forward, and a mid-round draft pick.

The Wild said the trade was approved by the NHL early this morning. The NHL's 2007-08 salary cap didn't officially increase to $50.3 million until today, and Fernandez's salary would have put the Bruins over the $44 million salary cap had the trade gone through Saturday.

Reached at his Montreal home Saturday, Fernandez had received no word from either team.

"This is something that's been juggling in a circle for a long time now, whether they'd trade me or not," he said. "There's been questions my whole time here, whether I was doing good or not, there's always talk about me getting traded.

"But if this is it, I've had a long time to get ready mentally for this. It's a fresh start and a rebirth, which only helps. It would be a jump-start to my career, which I don't think I really needed, but I can't wait to go there and show my stuff to them."

The 20-year-old Kalus, a 2005 second-round pick by the Bruins, is said to be a strong, fast, talented forward with star power who scored goals on his first three NHL shots last season. Since turning pro last fall, however, he's been plagued by inconsistency.

In 43 games with AHL Providence, Kalus, a native of the Czech Republic, scored 13 goals and had 30 points. He had four goals and an assist in nine games with Boston.

The Wild came close to trading Fernandez to the Bruins at last weekend's draft. However, things fell through when the Bruins became concerned about Fernandez's off-ice attitude. In addition, goalies Tomas Vokoun and Vesa Toskala were being shopped by their respective teams.

Fernandez, 32, one of three original Wild players still with the team this past season, had a record of 113-102-28 in 260 games with the Wild with a 2.47 goals-against average and .914 save percentage. He teamed with Niklas Backstrom last season to win the William Jennings Trophy, which is awarded to the goaltenders for the team that gives up the fewest goals.

Fernandez became expendable when the Wild re-signed Backstrom to a two-year, $6.2 million deal in mid-June.

Trading Fernandez also creates a spot for 23-year-old Josh Harding, who proved himself last season with a 5-3-1 record and a 1.65 goals against average and .942 save percentage for the Wild.

"I felt like this was the direction the team wanted to go with Nik doing so good last year, and I understand that," Fernandez said. "I know sometimes I can be a pain. Anybody that knows me knows I'm really hard on myself. It's never enough. Sometimes it's been rough and tough to do everything right ... but I'm proud of what that team [in 2003 by going to the Western Conference Finals] accomplished.

"I just wish I could have done more and wanted to do more."

While General Manager Doug Risebrough said earlier Saturday that the Wild "will be getting out of the way for [the first] few days" of free agency, trading Fernandez would give the Wild more flexibility if it wants to pursue free agents.

With Fernandez, the Wild had 15 players signed at $39.15 million. Anticipated raises to five other restricted free agents pushes that to around $46 million. Deleting Fernandez's $4.33 million cap hit gives the Wild breathing room.

Risebrough said the Wild will be looking for "middle-tier" free agents and isn't looking to hand out long-term deals after signing Mikko Koivu to a four-year deal Saturday and Mark Parrish and Kim Johnsson to five- and four-year deals last summer. The team also wants to re-sign Pierre-Marc Bouchard long-term.

Michael Russo • mrusso@startribune.com