Quote:
Originally Posted by TheoFleury
Its amazing how many flames fans don't realize that Backlund is important and on a good contract. As soon as I read someone say he needs to be bought out or is a bad contract it just says to me that whoever is spouting that drivel doesn't have a clue and probably should just pick a new sport to follow
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When Backlund is 36 he will make $5,350,000. That is three years from now sure. But the best value years of Backlund are behind him. No contract is stable, they change over time. For example for most of his contract Monahan was a steal of a deal. All things change.
Backlund is probably not worth $5,350,000 today. However, his contract is very palatable because the Flames get very good value elsewhere in the roster. The theme of this thread is that the Flames are going to have to find money if they want to keep Mangaipane, Tkachuk and Gaudreau. Like O.P said, Zadorov and Monahan are easy outs. However, Lucic's contract is effectively buyout proof.
With this in mind the question isn't is Backlund good, or was Backlund's contract over the last 3-4 years good value. The question is, do the Flames need to find money by moving on from 34 year old Backlund.
I still maintain that Backlund, while not great value at $5,350,000 is a quality player on the team and worth the slight overpay coming into next year. Besides a 1M cap increase is good news. We are just bracing ourselves for two contracts north of 10M.