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.