Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
Which is precisely why I specified that he will be no where near a position to make that replacement for a few years.
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The situation is that right now Backlund has two years left on his $3.6 million/season deal which makes him attractive to teams coming off a career season. The issue for the Flames is that if this season is his peak and he drops back to a 30 point player that struggles with injuries then he's likely not going to be offered a contract at the end of his deal as the team will put their money towards keeping other players. If he continues to put up 40 point seasons the team will not be able to retain him when he becomes a free agent (sorry but that's the reality of the raises to the kids and the Giordano contract kicking in) so I simply don't see a scenario where he remains a Flame past his current contract.
That Murray kid certainly looks like the real deal and IMO this is the offseason to sell high on guys like Colborn and Backlund if the team feels that the goaltenders available in free agency are not up to what they deem they need next season to compete for the playoffs.