Quote:
Originally Posted by ricardodw
Just using measurable facts Last year Backlund was a +9 this year he is a -7.
There could be extenuating circumstances... maybe last year he was playing against inferior players ... I personally don't think so.
If you look back over the Selke voting there is seldom anyone in the top 10 that has a negative +/-.
A lot of the justification of the 5M deals are that he is an elite shut down near Selke finalist
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I actually don't think +/- is a poor argument to make when comparing his performance year over year. It's not a perfect stat in the context of his defensive play. But it does state that he's been on the ice for far more goals against than goals for relative to last season.
But with that said, he's still our best overall centermen and he takes a lot of defensive zone draws and does a lot of heavy lifting against the opposition's best lines. I'd sign him for $5M+ and still call it a bargain. Our team would be considerably worse if Monahan or rookie Mark Jankowski was this team's shut down center. Monahan hasn't shown me the ability to be a high end 2 way center yet, so signing Backlund to me as an absolute no brainer.
If Jankowski one day surpasses Backlund then I think there'd still be a trade market for Backlund and we can deal him then. But keep the asset because he's still vital to this team's success and our current window to win.