[jonkaupp]

Originally Posted by New Era

$6, 5, 5 = $16M over 3 years ($5.3M hit).
$6, 5, 5, 4 = $20M over 4 years ($5M hit.
$6, 5, 5, 4, 3 = $23M over 5 years ($4.6M hit)
$6, 5, 4.5, 4.5, 4, 3 = $27M over 6 years ($4.5M hit).

Anything more and the Flames are possibly hand-cuffing themselves and overpaying a guy destined to be on the 3rd, or possibly 4th line, in two or three years.

My guess is the only way we see Backlund playing on the third line before 33 would be from Janks progressing, not from Backlund regressing. Guys with his kinda advanced stats usually can keep it up until their mid 30s. I would bet hes still a tradeable asset at that point.