Quote:
Originally Posted by boogerz
Baertschi's production is marginally better than Backlunds. At 20 years old, Backlund put up 10 points in 23 games playing a minute less ice-time per game.
Based on their play, Baerstchi is showing the same promise Backlund did that age, which is the right stage for him to be right now.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
Baertschi has been overrated by Flames fans but he is a good prospect and looks like he can be an NHL player. Right now I'm 50/50 if he's going to be a top 3 forward or a guy like Backlund that can be a 4-9 range forward. He really wasn't very good in the 2013 season but hopefully with a full training camp and another year getting older and stronger he will have a better season in the coming season.
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The only thing really comparable between Baertschi and Backlund and their first NHL seasons is the final tally of numbers. Beyond that, there is a significant difference, and Baertschi is easily a much better prospect, and with a clearly higher ceiling than Backlund. Backlund in his first three seasons only once strung together a +2 game point streak, and had five multi-point games before the beginning of this season, through 137 games. Baertschi has only played a total of 25 games, and already has 2 multi-point games to his credit, and has twice hit the score sheet in 3+ consecutive games. His season may not have been great, but that fails to factor in how good he looked in his last 10 games. Backlund has yet to put together anything resembling Baertschi's 10 points in 7 games to finish the 2013 season. I really like both players, but Baertschi is pretty clearly the better prospect with the higher ceiling.