Player Discussion David Backes IV

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Dr Hook

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I thought Backes looked good at 3c yesterday. I hope they keep him there and give him time to develop some chemistry with Heinen and Bjork/whoever. He is by no means speedy, but he didn't look near as lumbering as he did last season. To the eye his skating was more fluid and wasn't really behind the play much. Great PK work too. I don't think a 40 pt season from him is out of the question based on his play in the spot yesterday. Small sample size, but the guy is a proven NHL center.
 

Blowfish

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I thought Backes looked good at 3c yesterday. I hope they keep him there and give him time to develop some chemistry with Heinen and Bjork/whoever. He is by no means speedy, but he didn't look near as lumbering as he did last season. To the eye his skating was more fluid and wasn't really behind the play much. Great PK work too. I don't think a 40 pt season from him is out of the question based on his play in the spot yesterday. Small sample size, but the guy is a proven NHL center.

He has the high IQ going on but he can't take a shift off. If he does that lumbering thing becomes much more noticeable and much more likely that line continues to get hemmed in their own zone. I do like what I see him doing at the dot.
 

LSCII

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Was pleased to see Backes at C last game and thought he looked fine. It makes too much sense to not do this. It's a far better solution than slotting up a 4th line player like Kuraly and expecting him to be better than he is truly capable. At least with Backes, Bjork, and Heninan the line has a clear cut identity too.
 

TheReal13Linseman

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I barely noticed him out there; except for another stone hands shot into the goalie's chest. Or was that last game? Whatever. Guy's a bust. Backes alone makes more than the six players on our bottom two lines... Think about that for a minute... Or, better yet, don't; there's no point.

So, when you start to look for reasons why your team can't advance, it's not that difficult to see that one, or two, or three bad high dollar signings, (like Beleskey and Backes) can make the difference between being a middle of the pack team and an elite one.
 

Oates2Neely

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I barely noticed him out there; except for another stone hands shot into the goalie's chest. Or was that last game? Whatever. Guy's a bust. Backes alone makes more than the six players on our bottom two lines... Think about that for a minute... Or, better yet, don't; there's no point.

So, when you start to look for reasons why your team can't advance, it's not that difficult to see that one, or two, or three bad high dollar signings, (like Beleskey and Backes) can make the difference between being a middle of the pack team and an elite one.
Every team has those players on those contracts. Tampa destroyed us with Callahan making 6m playing in the bottom 6.
 

BruinDust

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I barely noticed him out there; except for another stone hands shot into the goalie's chest. Or was that last game? Whatever. Guy's a bust. Backes alone makes more than the six players on our bottom two lines... Think about that for a minute... Or, better yet, don't; there's no point.

So, when you start to look for reasons why your team can't advance, it's not that difficult to see that one, or two, or three bad high dollar signings, (like Beleskey and Backes) can make the difference between being a middle of the pack team and an elite one.

In a general sense.

But in this case (so far anyways) Backes contract hasn't hurt the Bruins.

The rest of his 2016 UFA class was a bust. I wouldn't of given his money to any of those other highly sought guys in 2016 (Ladd, Eriksson, Lucic, etc.)

The 2017 UFA class was also pretty darn underwhelming. Nothing much of interest there. I wouldn't of given the term/$$$ to Shattenkirk and Radulov that they got.

They struck out on Tavares, had nothing to do with money.

Kovalchuk went to the team that offered the most term.

They weren't getting Karlsson from Ottawa, being in the same division.

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I didn't see anything the other night out of Jeff Skinner that made me wish the Bruins had stepped up and acquired him this past summer. Certainly not enough to want to extend his contract.

Bruins have a fair amount of cap space now.

Could the Backes contract hurt next summer when needing to start re-signing the young players on the roster? Sure it could. And if they need to shed a good young player for peanuts because Backes is still on the books, then long-run it was probably a mistake.

But they Bruins have also made the playoffs both of Backes seasons in Boston, something they didn't do the two seasons before he got here. They have a very good chance of making it this year.

No Backes and maybe they don't see playoff action. And unused cap space doesn't help win hockey games.
 

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I was very happy to see him at 3C at last and thought he played well. Cassidy should keep him there, he's the best fit for that position. As much as I like Sean Kuraly he was over his head playing there.
 
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TaroTsujimoto

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Cassidy intends to keep Backes at Centre, flanked by Bjork and Heinen.

“I kind of like Backes in the middle,” said Cassidy. “I think Bjork had his legs under him tonight. Anders just has to learn when to handle the puck — when to make plays, when to hang on. It’s for him to figure out, ‘OK, if I do give it up, it’s tough to get it back.’ We’d like him to possess more.
“Danton’s game is coming and he’s very responsible. So I thought that line worked out well. And it will be the plan going forward — unless something changes.”

The Bruins’ line combinations may be coming into clearer focus - The Boston Globe
 

BruinDust

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Cassidy intends to keep Backes at Centre, flanked by Bjork and Heinen.

“I kind of like Backes in the middle,” said Cassidy. “I think Bjork had his legs under him tonight. Anders just has to learn when to handle the puck — when to make plays, when to hang on. It’s for him to figure out, ‘OK, if I do give it up, it’s tough to get it back.’ We’d like him to possess more.
“Danton’s game is coming and he’s very responsible. So I thought that line worked out well. And it will be the plan going forward — unless something changes.”

The Bruins’ line combinations may be coming into clearer focus - The Boston Globe

Makes you wonder why it took so long to give it a try.

Give the 2nd and 3rd lines 15-20 games to gel, and I think those two lines will be just fine.
 

BruinDust

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Reminds me of the days Eriksson wasn’t given a real shot on Krejci’s RW. Infuriating. Once they finally did he scored 30

It was infuriating under Julien. He forced feed the Krejci-Backes combo for over half a season, trying to recreate the magic of Krejci + Power Forward-types. The same coach who gave another slow-footed C in Joonas Kemppainen far too many chances at the NHL level.

Last year it wasn't such a big deal, as Riley Nash did a decent job in the middle. Still would of been nice to see it tried during those times that Krejci and Bergeron missed time (although I think some of Backes absences coincided with theirs).
 

Ratty

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He may have looked ok yesterday, but I can't see him able to keep up with Heinen and Bjork over the long haul. Bjork is an elite skater and Heinen clearly outdistances Backes on any level.

Hope I'm wrong. But I see Donato eventually moving into the 3c spot.
 

Blowfish

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Thought Backes had a good game and hope Cassidy keeps him as 3C all season

He had a good last minute....other than that the first period I didn't hear his name once. He ugly hacked a guy. Completely whiffed on pp wide open net and his line still hasn't registered a point and continues to be hemmed in the D zone. How is that playing good?
 
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RedeyeRocketeer

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How about wishing he’s ok?

[mod]

Of course I hope he's ok. But that's not what the other posters predicted with the 20 goal estimates.

The single best thing that could happen is for Backes to be ok and score 20. Only a crazy person would think otherwise on this board.
 
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