[jaikorven]

Originally Posted by CsInMyBlood

Hes quieted down because his boy Bennett is now on the top line. Cant act like Backlund is dragging him down anymore.

It's the same thing with some posters ragging on Backlund his entire career. The big thing with Backs is he does SO many other things other than put up points. Keeping a goal out of your net is just as important as scoring a goal. Some actually dont see it or refuse to acknowledge it for whatever reason.

All I know is Backlund is one of the most complete hockey players on the Flames and one of their most important. He makes any player on his line better. See scrubs such as Joe Colborne, Lance Bouma, Tom Kostopoulos, Tim Jackman, Sam Bennett, Milan Lucic, Blake Comeau, Lee Stempniak, Roman Cervenka, Mason Raymond. He plays with these guys without complaint and makes them look like legit NHLers.

Kills penalties, plays on the powerplay, plays against the top players in the game. Drives offense, makes zone entries, plays a full 200 foot game. High hockey IQ. Relied heavily with defensive zone starts. Always top 10 in the NHL in takeaways. In fact ranks 3rd in the NHL since the 2012-2013 season (9 seasons) with 496 takeaways. Only Ryan O'Reilly and Mark Stone have more. For a defensive specialist he also ranks 49th in points among all NHL centers over those 9 seasons.

Fact is this team leans heavily on Mikael Backlund. We are lucky to have him.

Out of thanks and this certainly deserved my thanks!