Quote:
Originally Posted by Beninho
He’s been un-engaged a lot defensively, especially compared to last season. The 3M line has now become the 1M line. Backlund has been one of my biggest let downs of the season. Coming off last season I had very high hopes for Backlund, there were times last season where he looked like our no.1 center. This year he’s had stone hands and his finishing has been atrocious. He gets stuck constantly trying to cycle the puck and rarely gets into the slot. Not been a fan of his game at all
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I love Backlund and all, but this is precisely why I have zero issue with any GM who tries to lowball any upcoming free agent player, especially an upcoming UFA. More often than not, these players never live up to their contract and it ends up becoming a burden. I'm not saying Backlund will suddenly become lazy and become a Brouwer. But IMO Backlund's peak season was last season. It's a risk to sign him longterm at a high cap hit.