Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
Anything more than $4.5 you have to let him go. He's a quasi-3rd liner/2nd liner and you can't afford more than $4.5 for a player like that. I like Backlund, but he is what he is. You do not overpay lower half of the lineup players and think it will not come back to hurt you with the guys you think will be top end talent. I know there are plenty of Backlund supporters out there, but you have to be realistic as to what his talent level is, and he has to be paid at that level. If you overpay him at $5.5M, what happens when Bennett, or any number of players, steps up and surpasses him? That completely ####s the pay structure. You can't pay a 3rd line center that much, just like you can't pay Matt Stajan $4M+ to be a 4th line center and expect to challenge for anything of consequence. Budget is budget. Backlund is one of those players you have to be extremely careful about because he isn't a solid fit anywhere and his salary could be very damaging.
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By what possible measure is Backlund a "lower half of the lineup" player?
Look, I have been waiting for him to drop off for a couple years now...its simply not going to happen. I was one who wanted him dealt off the team as recently as last season.
I was wrong. Dead wrong. He is an elite defensive center in the NHL who by any metric is among the games best. There is just no way to argue it at this point.
He will get WAY more than 4.5 million if he wants.