SaintMorose
Registered User
- Jul 21, 2009
- 3,928
- 520
For a good number of years Flames fans have had high expectations for this guy.
Drafted with some creativity and hands we felt give him the right line mates and he's bound to be a top 6 centre for our team for a decade. For many years we were treated to him moving up and down the line-up often seen as "in the doghouse" because of inconsistent offense and wanting to mold a guy who was relentless on the puck and could cause open ice turnovers into a defensive specialist centre. While for years many of us wanted to see him put into a position to succeed with strong offensive line-mates, in the end we were pretty happy with Backlund seeing him as the new and improved Matt Stajan who could ideally anchor a shutdown 3rd line while being able to move up the line-up in a pinch. Expectations had dropped but he was still a core piece to the team moving forward.
With the arrival of Brad Treliving though there was a new man at the helm who saw the potential of Backlund as a core piece and he went out and gave him a winger to suit his style in Frolik; giving us a line that could provide a much more sound 2-way game rather than Backlund carrying his line out of their own end.
Our new coach found another match for that line in 6th overall draft pick Tkachuk who's skill has surprised me. As I admittedly got sucked into the draft talk about his toughness and ability to compliment great players instead of seeing his capability to drive a line's offense, his skill to carry a puck, and his god damn on ice IQ being elite.
And now that Backlund leads the only truly consistent line in either end of the ice (including a current streak of 21 points in his last 20 games). I thought it might be good to discuss the Adonis himself.
-Is this the true face of Mikael that we've been waiting for the last 5 years? (not over a point per game but maybe a 55-60 point pace while being the best Defensive forward on the team)
-Is there some vindication for the years of saying he would flourish with good line-mates? (or did being consistently kicked back to the 4th line get him here any faster?)
-What will be the cost to keep him as a UFA past next season? (but with Bouma's and Stajan's somewhat bloated contracts expiring as well will there be an impact on the rest of the roster if we keep him?)
edit: TL;DR
Drafted with some creativity and hands we felt give him the right line mates and he's bound to be a top 6 centre for our team for a decade. For many years we were treated to him moving up and down the line-up often seen as "in the doghouse" because of inconsistent offense and wanting to mold a guy who was relentless on the puck and could cause open ice turnovers into a defensive specialist centre. While for years many of us wanted to see him put into a position to succeed with strong offensive line-mates, in the end we were pretty happy with Backlund seeing him as the new and improved Matt Stajan who could ideally anchor a shutdown 3rd line while being able to move up the line-up in a pinch. Expectations had dropped but he was still a core piece to the team moving forward.
With the arrival of Brad Treliving though there was a new man at the helm who saw the potential of Backlund as a core piece and he went out and gave him a winger to suit his style in Frolik; giving us a line that could provide a much more sound 2-way game rather than Backlund carrying his line out of their own end.
Our new coach found another match for that line in 6th overall draft pick Tkachuk who's skill has surprised me. As I admittedly got sucked into the draft talk about his toughness and ability to compliment great players instead of seeing his capability to drive a line's offense, his skill to carry a puck, and his god damn on ice IQ being elite.
And now that Backlund leads the only truly consistent line in either end of the ice (including a current streak of 21 points in his last 20 games). I thought it might be good to discuss the Adonis himself.
-Is this the true face of Mikael that we've been waiting for the last 5 years? (not over a point per game but maybe a 55-60 point pace while being the best Defensive forward on the team)
-Is there some vindication for the years of saying he would flourish with good line-mates? (or did being consistently kicked back to the 4th line get him here any faster?)
-What will be the cost to keep him as a UFA past next season? (but with Bouma's and Stajan's somewhat bloated contracts expiring as well will there be an impact on the rest of the roster if we keep him?)
edit: TL;DR
**** YEAH Mikael Backlund is finally what we all hoped in vain he would be years ago. How much money will this cost?
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