Quote:
Originally Posted by FanIn80
The point of this discussion was never meant to be “does Backlund suck” and/or “do we dump him for cap space.”
I made two assertions:
- 1. We need to acquire cap space.
- 2. Trading Frolik would really only get us cap space; where as trading Backlund would get cap space plus a usable asset in return.
I then posed two questions:
- 1. Do we have a player that can fill enough of Backlund’s role to make moving Backlund out feasible.
- 2. Is Ryan that player?
Some of the points I had hoped were implied within the context of my post:
- Backlund should be a great #3C, but we’re forced to deploy him as an “average” #2C.
- Ryan is also a great #3C; while he would be a below average #2C, is it far enough from where Backlund is that it makes the move too risky?
For clarity, I really like Backlund, but I consider him a Pittsburgh-era Jordan Staal. Probably the best #3C in the league, but doesn’t have enough offensive ability to be strong #2C.
Second lines need to be almost as much about offence as first lines are. Not every team can have a Bergeron, (Peter) Forsberg, Fedorov or Datsyuk that can shut teams down without sacrificing offence. You can’t ice a one-line offensive threat anymore. The second line has to be a threat to score almost as often as the first line is. That’s how you escape shutdown hockey. If a team shuts your first line down, your second line wins the game. When teams adjust to focus on your second line, now your first line is able to operate.
I think we have a very complimentary second line that has a very good top-line winger, an average third line winger and potentially the best third line C in the game. That’s a second line that looks like 1A 2B 3B, when it should be really be nothing but 1A/Bs and 2As.
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So your whole problem with Backlund being considered a second line center is his lack of offense.
Yet he finished 40th in even strength points among centers. Lemme do some math here. 31 teams, so that places him 9th when you take out 31. But wait, Draisaitl, Lindholm and Nyquist are listed as centers ahead of him and didn't actually play much center, if any. Maybe even more guys but that's what I knew from skimming the list quickly.
So after you take out the top 31 and then these three guys who didn't actually play center all season Backlund places 6th. So not only in 2nd line production territory but at the top of the list.
2 even strength points less than Patrice Bergeron. 5 less than our own Elias Lindholm. 6 less points than Niklas Backstrom.
It's really getting annoying reading that Backlund doesn't have the offense compared to other 2nd line centers because in reality he put up more than most of them, nevermind that he starts his shifts in the D zone and goes up against other teams top lines every night.
I've seen Textcritic bring this up a couple of times before. I know it will have to be brought up many more times in the future.
Backlund is criminally underrated for everything he does and brings to this team.
Derek Ryan is a nice player but simply cannot touch Backlund in any facet of the game.