[fotiou22]

Good Lord. Backlund only finished fourth in Selke voting? Other posters have cited contracts of the only three players in the NHL who finished above him. What a player can get on the open market actually is relevant. And Backlund signing below market rate doesn't really mess up the team's budget. Quite the opposite. Like Giordano's contract, the team will get excellent value over most of the deal. It's true, these players will be less valuable to the team in the final year of their contracts. But why focus on the final year, rather than than the entire contract? (On top of that, we know the salary cap is going to increase over the length of these deals.) The team's window to contend is right now. It's impossible to contend by letting assets like Backlund disappear for nothing. If Jankowski eventually passes Backlund on the depth chart, that's a very good problem to have.

Every contract is a risk. If Gaudreau doesn't quite recover from the next big slash to his wrists, if he loses his touch and confidence, the team's on the hook for badly allocated money. You just have to make the best deals you can at the time.

Also: Tkachuk will be a RFA. Backlund would have been a UFA. The fact that Tkachuk's earned himself a huge contract has nothing to do with the deal Backlund just signed. Tkachuk is a budding superstar who will get a gigantic offer sheet if the team can't offer him a reasonable deal. (Again, the relevance of the market.) The message this contract sends to Tkachuk is that rather than go out on July 1 and really get paid, his center is committed to the Flames, and management is committed to winning.

Originally Posted by New Era

Just want to point out some of the crazy things floating around this thread.

No one is nominated for the Selke. The PHWA votes on who they think is the best defensive player in the league. They do so by casting a ballot with five players on it, and the scoring works on a must system. 57 players received votes for Selke. Backlund finished 4th, receiving only 310 must points. That was well behind eventual winner, Patrice Bergeron (1147 pts), and runners up Ryan Kesler (945) and Miko Koivu (752). Backlund only appeared on around 50% of ballots cast, so it was not like he was some consensus selection.



What a player could get on the open market is irrelevant. The Flames have a budget, and they pay a player what they think he will bring to the team. This is where there is some difference of opinion and the variance on his worth. Backlund is being paid like a 2nd line center, which he currently is. If his production slips, or he gets passed in the pecking order, the Flames have a problem on their hands. If someone on the open market wants to over-pay a player, good for them. Let them screw up their salary structure. The Flames should continue to pay players what they think they will be worth to the hockey club over the term of the contract and not be concerned about what player X could get on the open market.



Faceoffs is one thing not to like. Backlund is the Flames weakest center in the faceoff dot. Coming in at 48.7% in the dot is not great, especially when you're supposed to be a defensive specialist. Zone starts don't affect your face-off abilities, and this is a purely individual measure where Backlund could improve.

His point production has be maintained in the 50 point range over the length of the contract. Any dip and Backlund will quickly become a liability and whipping boy for the fans here. Can you imagine a player scoring 30 points and getting $5M+ a season? That's like a guy scoring 25 points and getting paid $4.5M. We know how popular that guy is.

Backlund's contract should worry people. Treliving just drew a line in the sand that everyone else gets to use in negotiations. If Backlund is worth $5M+, what is Tkachuk worth? What is Ferland worth? Those two contracts just went up substantially. I'm skeptical that Backlund will be able to produce at the pace to earn the money he's being paid. I'm also concerned that this contract will be used to beat up Treliving when it comes negotiating future contracts with players that surpass Backlund in the lineup.

Don't get me wrong. I'm happy Backlund got signed. What concerns me is how long Backlund will remain a viable player and how this contract will affect others. I just don't see Backlund being a $5M+ player in two years, and I think this is going to hurt the team in the long run. I can see Backlund becoming the new Troy Brouwer or Matt Stajan in years 3-6.