David Backes (What If)

[ScratchCatFever]

Watching this teams lack of competitiveness and erratic consistency through the first two weeks I couldn't help but wonder how different things could be right now had we been able to resign him to the extra year of term he wanted. Had we not been hamstrung by the Bouwmeester/Lethera contracts you have to figure it would probably would've happened. We would have a cemented proven captain, with Pietrangelo wearing an A along with 91. It's painful to think we could've looked something like this up front. (Assuming the moves we made this summer took place)

ROR Tarasenko Fabbri
Schenn Schwartz Kyrou
Backes Perron Steen
Bozak Thomas Blais
(Maroon)? But doubtful we sign him with DB 42 still in the picture

Barbashev
Sanford
Soshnikov

Pietrangelo Eddy
Parayko Dunn
Bortuzzo Schmaltz

Gunnar
Butler

Click to read more...

 

[ScratchCatFever]

 

[EastonBlues22]

Watching this teams lack of competitiveness and erratic consistency through the first two weeks I couldn't help but wonder how different things could be right now had we been able to resign him to the extra year of term he wanted. Had we not been hamstrung by the Bouwmeester/Lethera contracts you have to figure it would probably would've happened. We would have a cemented proven captain, with Pietrangelo wearing an A along with 91. It's painful to think we could've looked something like this up front. (Assuming the moves we made this summer took place)

ROR Tarasenko Fabbri
Schenn Schwartz Kyrou
Backes Perron Steen
Bozak Thomas Blais
(Maroon)? But doubtful we sign him with DB 42 still in the picture

Barbashev
Sanford
Soshnikov

Pietrangelo Eddy
Parayko Dunn
Bortuzzo Schmaltz

Gunnar
Butler

Even without Bouwmeester, Maroon, Sanford, and Butler, that team is still almost $3.5 million over the cap.

You keep Backes and you simply don't have the team you have now, plus you're still married to his crippling contract for two more years after this one. Bouwmeester is gone after this year.

 

[BlueDream]

Well, Bruins fans aren't exactly happy they signed him to that contract so that tells you what you need to know.

 

[542365]

I would like to have the player, but definitely not the contract.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Like the attitude, not the cost.

When he retires bring him back to kick these guys in the ass.

 

[Bluesnatic27]

With Backes on the roster, the Blues might not have O'Reilly given the cascade of moves that were made after Backes left. It would be impossible to look at the current roster and just add Backes to it because there were so many additions/subtractions that were made since then.

 

[ChuckLefley]

I remember when people couldn’t wait to get rid of Backes. Couldn’t wait to get rid of such a terrible captain. Fickle much?

 

[Majorityof1]

I remember when people couldn’t wait to get rid of Backes. Couldn’t wait to get rid of such a terrible captain. Fickle much?

Who wanted to get rid of him? As I remember it, most people would have loved to bring him back but not on that contract. They understood his decision to cash in on his last big deal and wished him well. That is way different than what you are describing. As that's pretty much the same opinion everyone still has now, it's not very fickle either. As @542365 said, we would love the player but not the contract.

 

[TheBluePenguin]

If I remember right the players we have signed since we passed on Backes

Schwartz
Lehtera (Bad contract but without needing to dump him no Schenn)
Parayko

I think I would rather have any of those three instead of Backes 1v1, and we might have had to loose 2 of them to to Keep 42. It really was the best thing for him and us that he took the money

 

[Klank Loves You]

There was a strong sentiment for getting away from Backes's "hot head" leadership.

 

[The Note]

Who wanted to get rid of him? As I remember it, most people would have loved to bring him back but not on that contract. They understood his decision to cash in on his last big deal and wished him well. That is way different than what you are describing. As that's pretty much the same opinion everyone still has now, it's not very fickle either. As @542365 said, we would love the player but not the contract.

I will say there was a not insignificant amount of talk after the Blues flamed out in the first round three straight years of people saying he “couldn’t lead a team in the playoffs” and that him getting pissy at the end of games they were losing “wasn’t captain material.” That final playoff run to the WCF really smoothed things over. Not to say everyone was ready to chase him out of town but that talk definitely happened.

 

[Celtic Note]

Backes was on of my favorite players. A Backes in his prime would be a plus. A Backes today is a negative. We made the right move not re-signing him. Let’s keep it that way.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

I'd take him back in a heartbeat....but that contract is a killer.

He's one of my two all time favorites but the time has come to let it go.

I'll back up what others have said though. By 2015, I was really sick of this place's attitude towards Backes. Totally undervalued and underappreciated by the end.

 

[ChuckLefley]

Who wanted to get rid of him? As I remember it, most people would have loved to bring him back but not on that contract. They understood his decision to cash in on his last big deal and wished him well. That is way different than what you are describing. As that's pretty much the same opinion everyone still has now, it's not very fickle either. As @542365 said, we would love the player but not the contract.

As others have said, it was all over the place. He was a bad captain. Bad penalties. Selfish. Jealous of the Tarasenko. I could go on and on, but it seems that you kept your eyes and ears covered, at that time.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

As others have said, it was all over the place. He was a bad captain. Bad penalties. Selfish. Jealous of the Tarasenko. I could go on and on, but it seems that you kept your eyes and ears covered, at that time.

My favorite was the pro Steen crowd that bemoaned everything Backes said and THANK GOD we signed Steen so we wouldn't keep Backes and then Steen could rightfully take the captainship that Backes heinously stole

 

[PiggySmalls]

While I'm glad Blues did not resign Backes to what he got from Boston. I have to ask myself, Armstrong brought in Maroon to be a physical player on a line with Vladi. Yet for multiple years Backes was right there to be used in the same role. The very few times we saw Backes and Vladi together I always thought them two would be good on a line. I get Hitch had the final say on lines and preferred to use Backes as a shutdown center but it surprises me that more effort in seeing how those two meshed wasn't tried more.

 

[BlueDream]

My favorite was the pro Steen crowd that bemoaned everything Backes said and THANK GOD we signed Steen so we wouldn't keep Backes and then Steen could rightfully take the captainship that Backes heinously stole

I think this is a pretty large exaggeration. I don't think many people reacted like that and necessarily went against Backes. And I think most people were in favor of Pietrangelo taking the 'C' and not Steen.

 

[TheBluePenguin]

My favorite was the pro Steen crowd that bemoaned everything Backes said and THANK GOD we signed Steen so we wouldn't keep Backes and then Steen could rightfully take the captainship that Backes heinously stole

I am one of the bigger Steen fans around and I do not remember a bunch of people here complaining about Backes becoming the Captain. The whole organization knew and pushed Backes as future captain since he showed up. I do not think Steen is captain materiel in his play (Kinda sneaky dirty) and personality (Seems quite and introvert). That being said Steen is now and as was most of the time a better hockey player then Backes IMO. I know in St Louis I may be in minority

 

[Falco Lombardi]

I think this is a pretty large exaggeration. I don't think many people reacted like that and necessarily went against Backes. And I think most people were in favor of Pietrangelo taking the 'C' and not Steen.

I didn't say it was all or even most, but it was a minority that was vocal enough to be an irritant. (Admittedly, fans complaining who is captain or not is one of my biggest pet peeves. Same as the people complaining about Petro over Schenn now)

And practically every week, there were multiple people saying some form of "ugh Backes took that penalty. I wish Steen was captain." And I'd argue at least 75 percent of the time, it was Backes dragging the team into the fight that badly needed the kick.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

I am one of the bigger Steen fans around and I do not remember a bunch of people here complaining about Backes becoming the Captain. The whole organization knew and pushed Backes as future captain since he showed up. I do not think Steen is captain materiel in his play (Kinda sneaky dirty) and personality (Seems quite and introvert). That being said Steen is now and as was most of the time a better hockey player then Backes IMO. I know in St Louis I may be in minority

We will have to agree to disagree on the last part.

It wasn't when Backes became captain, but probably 2 or 3 years in that the "he's a bad captain" narrative took hold.

 

[Majorityof1]

As others have said, it was all over the place. He was a bad captain. Bad penalties. Selfish. Jealous of the Tarasenko. I could go on and on, but it seems that you kept your eyes and ears covered, at that time.

Apologies, I thought you were talking about the prevailing sentiment when we actually let him go and he signed with Boston. By that time he had calmed down a bit with his hot-headed actions and we had just had a good playoff run. I didn't join this board until he had already several years of captaincy under his belt. As I don't live in St. Louis, this board is really my only thermometer of the pulse of Blues fandom. So if people were upset with him in 2010-14 era, I would have been oblivious.

 

[simon IC]

Backes was my favourite player, and I literally cried when he left. Having said that, I completely understood the reasons for the team letting him go, and I still do.

 

[bluesfanforlife1992]

If I remember right the players we have signed since we passed on Backes

Schwartz
Lehtera (Bad contract but without needing to dump him no Schenn)
Parayko

I think I would rather have any of those three instead of Backes 1v1, and we might have had to loose 2 of them to to Keep 42. It really was the best thing for him and us that he took the money

Backes signed on July 1 2016.

Since then the Blues have signed or resigned the following players to multi-year deals that WENT INTO EFFECT AFTER BACKES on July 1 2016:
Lehtera signed 3 year extension July 1 2015 (Contract went into effect for 2016-17 and ends this season.) One of Army worst signings by far
Gunnarsson signed 3 year extension March 11 2016 (Contract started for 16-17 and ends this season)
Perron signed 2 year deal on July 1 2016
Allen signed 4 year extension July 1 2016 (Contract started 2017-2018 and ends 2020-2021)
Schwartz signed 5 year deal July 23 2016
Steen signed 4 year extension Sept 23 2016 (Contract went into effect for 2017-2018 and ends same year as Backes 5 year deal)
Parayko signed 5 year deal July 20 2017

 

[Ranksu]

Backes was my favourite player, and I literally cried when he left. Having said that, I completely understood the reasons for the team letting him go, and I still do.