How anyone could look at Backlund and call him a bust, or even trending to be a bust at this point is incomprehensible. He's 22, in his second year (and only played half a year this season), and has shown himself to at least be quite good defensively. Even if his offensive game doesn't ever reach top six levels, he's still FAR from being a bust. However, there's no reason to believe that his offensive game will never pick up. It might never, but MANY MANY players take a couple of years to pick up their offensive game in this league, especially players who start at 20 or 21.
There is no reason AT ALL to give up on Backlund yet, and certainly not "Waive him" so that a team can pick him up, so that we can let our 19 year old 1st round draft pick play a couple of extra games (which he won't be able to do anyway)
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