Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - [Francis - Rumour/Speculation] Expect next Captain to be Rasmus Andersson

Calgary4LIfe · 09-24-2023, 01:22 PM

I hope that Huberdeau, Weegar and Kadri are this effective at the same age. I also think the risk is somewhat mitigated by the fact that Backlund takes his off-season training seriously (2nd fittest Flame) and has avoided significant injury in the last few seasons.

I think looking at his utilization and importance on the team, I am really ok with an extension (and I am all for a rebuild here). I would love to have a player in the modern era have a long career for the Flames and retire as one. When was the last one? Loob? Maybe some people don't place any value on it, but I do. I also think that his cap hit is likely to not become a burden over the seasons, as he is paid primarily to be a two-way shut-down centre (which he is absolutely elite at), and not someone who needs to put up 'x' amount of points offering little else. His leadership also has a lot of value.

I am definitely ok with re-signing Backlund at this time.

I also look at it like this in a way:
Long-term 7 or 8 year deals are scary to me still. If there could be a caveat where there was some team option in which they could judge the last year or two of the player's performance, and be able to cancel that contract in case significant regression was evident, then those contracts would be more palatable and less risky to me. Of course that will never happen. However, that's how I am looking at Backlund's extension in a way - the team got a sneak peak at how much regression is creeping up, and he just his career high in points, and his second best in +/-, on a team with many players who struggled this year. Do I expect him to keep it up for the next 4 seasons? No. However, I do think that 2x or 3x5 is a fair deal, and one with acceptable risk.

09-24-2023, 01:22 PM	#314
Calgary4LIfe Franchise Player Join Date: Jun 2010 Exp:	I hope that Huberdeau, Weegar and Kadri are this effective at the same age. I also think the risk is somewhat mitigated by the fact that Backlund takes his off-season training seriously (2nd fittest Flame) and has avoided significant injury in the last few seasons. I think looking at his utilization and importance on the team, I am really ok with an extension (and I am all for a rebuild here). I would love to have a player in the modern era have a long career for the Flames and retire as one. When was the last one? Loob? Maybe some people don't place any value on it, but I do. I also think that his cap hit is likely to not become a burden over the seasons, as he is paid primarily to be a two-way shut-down centre (which he is absolutely elite at), and not someone who needs to put up 'x' amount of points offering little else. His leadership also has a lot of value. I am definitely ok with re-signing Backlund at this time. I also look at it like this in a way: Long-term 7 or 8 year deals are scary to me still. If there could be a caveat where there was some team option in which they could judge the last year or two of the player's performance, and be able to cancel that contract in case significant regression was evident, then those contracts would be more palatable and less risky to me. Of course that will never happen. However, that's how I am looking at Backlund's extension in a way - the team got a sneak peak at how much regression is creeping up, and he just his career high in points, and his second best in +/-, on a team with many players who struggled this year. Do I expect him to keep it up for the next 4 seasons? No. However, I do think that 2x or 3x5 is a fair deal, and one with acceptable risk.