Seriously - what's not to love about this guy? He's like the anti-Taylor Hall...so complete. So smart. 200 foot game. I bet if AC tried to make a 15/16 Low-Lights video of Backlund it'd be pretty short.
I think his strength is greatly under-rated. His skating stride is very strong and he is great battling for the puck.
If the Flames can truly turn the Frolik / Backlund pair into our 3rd line (meaning something really really good is cook'in with our 2nd line) I believe we'll start to become a top tier team. Can't think many 3rd lines in the league are better than Backs and Frolik!
Also -> players always have career years playing with Backlund. Colborne last year. Bennett did some real damage early on on his wing. Bouma the year before. It's freak'in awesome to play with Backlund.
Unrelated -> this video reminded me about Stajan playing on the wing for a couple games at the end of last season. If at some point in the next year Janko could graduate to 4th line centre I think people around here would be less ticked-off with Stajan as a winger. Yes -> he'd be getting paid too much. But I think he really has the smarts and skill to be a top-9 winger.
** Edited to say "THANK YOU AC". Flame fans are so lucky to have you on our side!!!
|