[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Wasn't there something out there recently which talked about how Backlund was pretty discouraged in his early days about the way things were going for him. He was pretty much ready to come home, but his Dad would settle him down and tell him to listen to his coaches, and stick with it? Eventually he did, and it started to work out.

Backlund's Journey

The usually affable Jim Playfair in full vent mode is a man to be afforded a wide berth (for verification, see YouTube video of his double-stick-break, gasket-blowing tirade of March 27, 2010).

"He was this close to my face,'' Mikael Backlund is recalling, holding the palm of one hand up to touch the tip of his nose. "And he was yelling at me. I mean, yelling at me.

"I don't know how long it lasted. Felt like 10 or 15 minutes.

"'Spoiled! Never make it to the NHL!' All that. He really ripped into me.

...

Acclimatization to the demands of the pro game often take time. Which brings us full circle to the infamous weigh-in/call-in/dressing-down of memory.

"I do remember it,'' says Playfair, now associate coach of the Arizona Coyotes. "I remember how much it bothered me because I liked Backs so much.

"He'd put so much dedication into the summer time. He wouldn't drink. He came over here to Canada to train. He was dedicated, did everything he could to be an NHL player.

"Then when he reaches the American League, you've got to play him, and it almost seemed like: 'I've come this far. It's probably good enough.'

"Well … no.

"Probably is never good enough.

"He wanted to play in the NHL as much as anyone I've ever coached in the American Hockey League. But I was seeing that his winter dedication wasn't equivalent to his summer dedication.

"I felt I had to shake him up.

"My message, what I wanted to make him aware of, was: those summers don't matter if this is how you're going to ruin your winters."

"When I got back to the hotel, I just wanted to cry,'' admits Backlund. "But I had roommates, so it was tough. You never cry in front of roommates, right? Unwritten rule.

"At that moment, I felt like: 'I'm outta here.' That was as close as I came to leaving.

"But my family, the people I always turn to when I need help or encouragement, just told me: You're not coming home.

"I just had to get better."

Jan Backlund, Mikael's dad, remembers that fish-or-cut-bait moment well.

"I told him,'' says Jan, "to stay, practice harder and show them how good you are."