One more Backlund anecdote... I forget what year but the Flames completely demolished the Oilers right before the end of the year and he was doing the post-game interview and the interviewer was talking about what a great game he played and he shrugged off the praise because the Oilers... "They're not a real NHL team"
What he meant was that they were depleted by trades and injuries and thus basically an AHL team at the time but him just plainly calling them not a real NHL team made me smile.