Quote:
Originally Posted by BACKCHECK!!!
He has the hardest zone-starts of any forward on the team, and faces the toughest competition of any forward on the team.
He IS the teams leading defensive forward, and it is by a large margin.
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Stajan is the guy they throw against the top lines no question, I don't know where you get your stats. And Stajan isn't that great either.
Besides, leading in defensive responsibility is not the same as leading in defensive results. As in, actually keeping the puck out of the net. Backlunds results are worst-in-team kind of bad.
It's not his fault, because yes, he does get put into tough spots, but using Backlund as a defensive forward is a result of him being above average on a bad team, not a result of him actually good.
Let's put it this way: would you think someone would trade for Backlund to use him as a shutdown guy? (Other than Edmonton.)