Paraphrased typical defence of Backlund: "He's not expected to score, he's expected to play defence against the top lines..."
Rhett: "Has he hit anyone? Has he driven the net? Has he made the passes? Has he won the faceoffs? Has he done a Captain's job?"
I tend to agree. Captains are supposed to be who your team can lean on in tough times. People want to trade Andersson, but at least Andersson contributes. I don't know how it's happened, but Backs has acquired a fan-assigned immunity to expectations for most of his career -- which is an odd quality for a Captain to have.
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Paraphrased typical defence of Backlund: "He's not expected to score, he's expected to play defence against the top lines..."
Rhett: "Has he hit anyone? Has he driven the net? Has he made the passes? Has he won the faceoffs? Has he done a Captain's job?"
I tend to agree. Captains are supposed to be who your team can lean on in tough times. People want to trade Andersson, but at least Andersson contributes. I don't know how it's happened, but Backs has acquired a fan-assigned immunity to expectations for most of his career -- which is an odd quality for a Captain to have.
Or ... he plays the most minutes of any forward against other team's top players but still remains near the top of the team in play driving metrics.
It's not fan assigned immunity it's "easy to look up actual stats"
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Backs is not having a good year, certainly not since at least Christmas. However, Warrener starts off by saying "score!", when he isn't a scorer. Then he says make an impact elsewhere, which is exactly what Backlund has done. This year has been no bueno, but I don't see that he has been given a pass at all. He has been criticized this year and rightfuly so, but what Rhett is looking for is prime Iggy and Backlund nor anyone else can be that.
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From HFBoard oiler fan, in analyzing MacT's management:
O.K. there has been a lot of talk on whether or not MacTavish has actually done a good job for us, most fans on this board are very basic in their analysis and I feel would change their opinion entirely if the team was successful.
Backs is not having a good year, certainly not since at least Christmas. However, Warrener starts off by saying "score!", when he isn't a scorer. Then he says make an impact elsewhere, which is exactly what Backlund has done. This year has been no bueno, but I don't see that he has been given a pass at all. He has been criticized this year and rightfuly so, but what Rhett is looking for is prime Iggy and Backlund nor anyone else can be that.
Which is sort of a glass house thing for a guy that made a living as a physical stay at home defenseman!
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Yeah, I brought this up in the BB thread yesterday.
He's probably playing with an injury, and I just don't think the only leadership style is the JT Miller call someone a slur or McDavid's 'dig in'.
Not producing offensively when he's a shut down center?
The Backlund onslaught lately has been insane.
Insane? Hardly.
He is mid thirties he is a shutdown center who gets a lot if ice time on a team that can’t score? This is one of the poorest stretches if play we have seen from him and it isnt five games. He is a bottom six forward declining that isnt an onslaught that is reality.
I imagine he means that whenever there is criticism of Backlund, it's met by "that's not his job" or "don't look at that, look at this instead."
You know what we really need? Someone we can rely on to win faceoffs. Why isn't he putting that on his shoulders and getting better at faceoffs? I don't expect him to score 30 goals, but I do expect him to figure out a way to lead this team on the ice. For a defensive specialist Captain, it seems like "get better at faceoffs" should be a pretty easy ask.
What exactly is he doing to lead this team? I mean that. Like I'm actually asking for specifics. He's the Captain of the Calgary Flames. In which way has he been the guy our team can lean on? In which way has he put this team on his back?
Rhett tongue-in-cheek asked about goals, but he's really just listing all the ways in which a Captain can lead by example. Goals, hits, playmaking, faceoffs. Even just banging around in front of the net, causing some chaos.
Rhett's an NHL player who's both been a Captain and followed captains. He knows what he's talking about. He know what drives other players to join the fight. Playoffs are war, and we have a General who only shows up in the invisible stats that you have to calculate after the game is over. Valuable metrics, for sure, but nothing that's going to make other players go through a wall to win anything.
I never really thought he was the right pick to begin with but I don't think it's fair to criticize him for it at the moment.
He's playing far, far too much on a nightly basis and that is on Huska, not Backlund.
5 points in his last 25 games while routinely playing 19/20 mins a night just isn't going to cut it. His offensive game has vanished, and when he's leading the TOI charge it hinders this teams ability to score goals.
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Rhetzky wants to have a chat about the Captain
