Backlund is sort of this era's Matthew Lombardi. People always want more and fail to see what he does bring is a huge part of this team's success in subtle ways and we'd be worse off without him. He's been a plus player three straight years while getting some of the toughest deployment in the entire league. That means he's coming out of the majority of matchups on the winning side. Does he struggle against certain individuals (Namely, Ryan Getzlaf)? Sure. Good teams are adaptable, they don't have one player for every matchup.
His contract is also perfect for what he brings.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason14h
We are last in the league in penalty killing....Comparing him to our other pathetic killers and one cherry picked player doesn't mean he's a good PKer.
|
2013-16 4v5 Ranking (200 SH Minutes Played, Forwards)
GA60 57th best of 141
GA60RelTM 34th best of 141
FA60 26th best of 141 (A more useful stat, since it's less goaltender-dependant and only measures how many unblocked shot attempts the opposition is getting through to either hit or miss the net, if the team isn't even getting shots through then you're doing a great job killing penalties)
FA60RelTM 24th best of 141
So, over the last three seasons, It's safe to say Backlund is in the upper ~25% of better penalty killers in the league as far as forwards getting significant PP ice time go.
Quote:
|
Again, i said he does everything pretty good, and nothing exceptional. Do you think he is an exceptional PKer?
|
Yes.