Player Discussion Mikael Backlund

Volica

Papa Shango
May 15, 2012
21,391
11,074
*dies of cringe*

5.5m x 6. Get it done Jay Treliving.

<Trades Backlund for a Pick, 2 players you've never heard of>
"Well, we think that one of these guys is the best player in his position, not playing in the NHL. We think that the second player, although normally ranked in the 9-15 range in prospect depth; and may be a bit older than a regular prospect, is going to be a steal."
 

SmellOfVictory

Registered User
Jun 3, 2011
10,959
653
<Trades Backlund for a Pick, 2 players you've never heard of>
"Well, we think that one of these guys is the best player in his position, not playing in the NHL. We think that the second player, although normally ranked in the 9-15 range in prospect depth; and may be a bit older than a regular prospect, is going to be a steal."

The horror.
 

tmurfin

That’s the joke
May 8, 2010
11,242
1,279
<Trades Backlund for a Pick, 2 players you've never heard of>
"Well, we think that one of these guys is the best player in his position, not playing in the NHL. We think that the second player, although normally ranked in the 9-15 range in prospect depth; and may be a bit older than a regular prospect, is going to be a steal."

You stop.
 

OvermanKingGainer

#BennettFreed #CurseofTheSpulll #FreeOliver
Feb 3, 2015
16,133
7,107
2022 Cup to Calgary
The following is just for fun. Don't dwell to hard on the flaws.

Last season Mikael Backlund was 64th among all NHL forwards in TOI, just behind Sean Monahan at 58. Which is impressive.. but 57 forwards in the NHL had more TOI than our two TOI leading forwards. What if hypothetically we played Backlund as often as, oh, Mark Scheifele? But for simplicity's sake we'll keep shorthanded TOI, 4-on-4, and 4-on-4 minutes unchanged.

Backlund SH points
3A

Backlund 4v4 and 3v3 Points
2G
4A

Backlund 5v5 Points X 2017 Mark Scheifele 5v5 Minutes
0.78 G/60 X 1216:52 = 16G
0.89 A/60 X 1216:52 = 18G

Backlund PP Points X Mark Scheifele PP Minutes
2.49 G/60 X 229:13 = 10G
3.26 A/60 X 229:13 = 12A

In this hypothetical scenario Backlund would have scored 28 goals and 37 assists for 65 points. Would he really have? Who knows if fatigue or bad luck might have set in, but what we do know is that we have a player who was very successful in the minutes he did play. The Flames will continue to roll four lines next season, as they should to get guys like Bennett, Versteeg, Jankowski, Stajan, Gaudreau, Monahan, Ferland, Tkachuk, Frolik, and Backlund all well-deserved ice time. But our forward core is anchored by Mikael Backlund and he makes everyone better, whether it's the guys on the ice with him, or the guys who benefit from softer minutes he creates. You can definitely win with Mikael Backlund as one of your top centers.
 

SmellOfVictory

Registered User
Jun 3, 2011
10,959
653
The following is just for fun. Don't dwell to hard on the flaws.

Last season Mikael Backlund was 64th among all NHL forwards in TOI, just behind Sean Monahan at 58. Which is impressive.. but 57 forwards in the NHL had more TOI than our two TOI leading forwards. What if hypothetically we played Backlund as often as, oh, Mark Scheifele? But for simplicity's sake we'll keep shorthanded TOI, 4-on-4, and 4-on-4 minutes unchanged.

Backlund SH points
3A

Backlund 4v4 and 3v3 Points
2G
4A

Backlund 5v5 Points X 2017 Mark Scheifele 5v5 Minutes
0.78 G/60 X 1216:52 = 16G
0.89 A/60 X 1216:52 = 18G

Backlund PP Points X Mark Scheifele PP Minutes
2.49 G/60 X 229:13 = 10G
3.26 A/60 X 229:13 = 12A

In this hypothetical scenario Backlund would have scored 28 goals and 37 assists for 65 points. Would he really have? Who knows if fatigue or bad luck might have set in, but what we do know is that we have a player who was very successful in the minutes he did play. The Flames will continue to roll four lines next season, as they should to get guys like Bennett, Versteeg, Jankowski, Stajan, Gaudreau, Monahan, Ferland, Tkachuk, Frolik, and Backlund all well-deserved ice time. But our forward core is anchored by Mikael Backlund and he makes everyone better, whether it's the guys on the ice with him, or the guys who benefit from softer minutes he creates. You can definitely win with Mikael Backlund as one of your top centers.

I'd be very okay with that scenario. I do think it's likely that there would be some dropoff in production rate, especially since Backlund plays a very high tempo game I think would be difficult to maintain with full top line minutes, but that's very interesting.
 

InfinityIggy

Zagidulin's Dad
Jan 30, 2011
36,068
12,852
59.6097709,16.5425901
Those are some really interesting stats OKG. One thing I would add is that because Backlund faces very difficult zone starts it makes some sense he would have a little bit less ice time than your typical 2C.
 

Flameshomer

Likeaholic
Aug 26, 2010
3,830
1,039
Edmonton
Give this man his money!

I think we should leave Backlund right where he's at in terms of Ice time- but those were some juicy stats. Thanks OKG!

Ideally in my mind, we evenly throw out:

Gaudreau-Monahan-Ferland 1/3 (4/12)
Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik 1/3 (4/12)

Then give Bennett-Jankowski-Lazar 1/4 (3/12)
and
Brouwer-Stajan-Versteeg (1/12)

Fractions representing approximate Ice-Time spread. This maximizes our strong players, gives adequate growth room for developing players, and keeps our older guys more energized for their occasional contributions.

More realistically I think we see:

Gaudreau-Monahan-Ferland 1/3 (3.5/12)
Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik 1/3 (3.5/12)
Bennett-Jankowski-Lazar 1/4 (2.5/12)
Brouwer-Stajan-Versteeg (2.5/12)
 
May 27, 2012
17,070
856
Earth
Little has been more consistent throughout his career, it's just that Backlund is becoming more consistent, rather than before when he was hit or miss.

To be fair, Little has missed 48 games the past 2 years, whereas Backlund only missed 1(woah).

Little, most definitely could have gotten more money as well.

Backlund will get at least 5M for sure though.
 
Last edited:

Calgareee

Registered User
Jun 29, 2015
2,051
413
Whatever that mesh was that they sewed into Backlund was is easily the best investment the Flames have made in ages.
 

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