Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
Backlund is in year-two of his five year deal. Last year he finished on pace to score +50 points, and he is currently on a 52-point pace despite having a slow start, and getting a tonne of defensive zone assignments.
Maybe that contract becomes an issue next year, or in years four or five. But as of today Backlund is playing at a level consistent with his salary.
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Yeah, sure, thanks to the three point game against the Oilers on Saturday. Prior to that he was one of the guys that stood out the most because of his lack of production. But a minor tweak in the lineup helped untrack Backlund, so we'll see if that continues. In the first 20% of the schedule the majority of his games have been pedestrian and uneventful. It also doesn't change that he's fallen to the third line center and that is a substantial amount of money to invest in a player at that level. If the plan is to leave Lindholm at center, then Backlund is expansion fodder primarily because of his salary. This is going to be an opportunity to possibly correct the imbalance in the salary structure, and whoever is running the show come the expansion draft they will be looking to lose money from the bottom of the roster if possible.