Lately I’ve been thinking more and more that if it weren’t for the NMC, now would be the perfect time to trade Backlund. Obviously he controls this, but I feel he has value right now and is playing pretty well, but I find I notice he’s lost a step. Not a huge drop but I just don’t find I see him carrying the puck through the neutral zone with the same strength and speed as I’m used to seeing. I’d like to see him have a chance at a cup and I would hate to see regression next year where perhaps no value coming back to the Flames in a trade and hard to find a suitor at his salary and level of play. Who knows, maybe he plays strong for several years but I find I’m starting to see some cracks, this is coming from a huge Backlund fan.
Trading Backs this year could get us some significant draft capital.
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