Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandman
Advanced stats wise, and possession wise, the 3M line is one of the best lines in the league, not just on our team, with Backlund leading the way. Last year he put up 53 points, which is perfectly reasonable for a second-liner who finished fourth in Selke voting ahead of Toews. Calling him a third-liner is selling him short.
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The only season he has done so. Close the year before to 50 and is trending to be below 50 once again this season. He is a career 40 pt guy. He has a long list of injury trouble as well, though thankfully he has been OK the last couple years.
He will be 29 in 3 months, meaning any extension sees him turn 30 in year 1 of that deal, so any 6 year deal is staring directly at him declining after 2 or 3 of those 6.
The amount of risk in extending Backlund to anything past 3 years is real and large.
So if he is not signed by the TD, Treliving HAS to move him (regardless of the teams position at that time) as there is no way you let an asset like that walk for nothing in the off-season.