Quote:
Originally Posted by CsInMyBlood
What? He is one of the best possession players in the entire NHL, so of course he is the best on the Flames.
Last year his defensive zone starts were at 65.9% and he still put up 53 points. Show me another guy in the NHL that is even close to that. I'll help you out here, Ryan Kesler.
Kesler had 58 points. So 5 more points than Backlund. Kesler makes $7.875 million a year.
The Selke winning Patrice Bergeron had 45.3 defensive zone starts and the exact same point output of Backlund last year. 53 points. Bergeron makes $8.75M a year.
For example Sean Monahan was at 38.7% defensive zone starts. So 61.3% offensive zone starts.
If you are telling me that Monahan doesn't completely benefit from having Backlund on his team you're crazy. If you're telling me that Backlund wouldn't have a pile of more points if he got some more offensive zone starts, again you're crazy.
PP, PK, shuts down the other teams top lines, still drives offense, currently second in the league in takeaways.
If you don't think Backlund is one of the most important pieces on this team, or deserves to get paid I'm not sure what you're watching.
There are only a handful of players in this league that bring the complete game that Backlund does. This team takes a HUGE step backwards without him in the fold. Treliving is smart and not going to let him slip away.
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I wonder if maybe kesler putting up 75 points one year and bergeron putting up 68 has something to do with getting paid. Backlund put up 53 in a career year and and we want to throw millions at the man. Id sign him to a 5x5 but not a penny more. He is important to this team cause were simply not that good of an nhl team. You can look at possession stats all you want but at the end of the day its about winning, and the cherry on top a stanley cup.