Quote:
Originally Posted by dissentowner
Backlund has not been that player since he got absolutely owned by MacKinnon in the Avs series. I am not even sure he is in our top 5 200 foot players let alone our top one. He is a streaky 45-50 point player who makes over $5M a year and is declining, you dump that contract every day. Nobody is taking him on without sending money back. You could expose him in the expansion draft and Seattle would easily pass.
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Backlund was the most impressive player in the final stretch of the season last year. That was the best 2 way performance by a Flames center I’ve personally seen and he even continued it into the playoffs where I thought he and Sam Bennett drove the bus.
Seattle would easily take him because players like him don’t grow on trees. He’s the guy usually tasked to shut down all the elite centers every night and he does a pretty good job normally. He has high hockey IQ, can a skate with and without the puck, is an excellent penalty killer, a good puck distributor up the middle, he cycles well and is very under appreciated around here. The Flames are a worse team without him.
He plays a lot of minutes under Sutter and that says a lot. He’ll be protected without question. Zero chance Darryl lets him go for nothing.