just looking a bit deeper at Backlund, I also agree his performance has declined from last year and the year previous.
Last year at the 50 game mark Backlund was leading the team with 6 powerplay goals to go with 4th on the team at 8 even strenght goals.
This year he is 6th on the team with 2 powerplay goals and and 6th on the team at even strength with 7 even strength goals.
Last year at this time he also had 4 game winners, this year, just a game winner.
Last year he had just 16 minutes in total penalty minutes at the 50 game mark. This year? Leads the Team with 54 minutes in penalties through 50 games. Conversely, Tkachuk lead the flames with 92 (!) PIMs in the first 50 games last year. This year he's cut that in half to just 42 PIMs, good for 5th on the team.
I think it's pretty obvious Backlund isn't having nearly the same year he had last year. The top line is making up for it somewhat, but the Flames are still lacking a second line of offense more now than last year.
The premise for 5 or so million a year is the 23 goal backlund, not the 14 goal backlund.
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