Confirmed with Link: Red Wings sign Mattias Bäckman to Entry Level Contract

[joe89]

Per capgeek: http://capgeek.com/player/2502

Click to read more...

 

[Run the Jewels]

Sweet! Are the plans still to have him spend next year in the SEL?

 

[PullHard]

We're going to have NHL caliber Dmen on our AHL team for a long time, I think.

 

[SoupNazi]

Our future D-corps could be really, really stacked.

 

[mindfly]

1 Ouellet-Sproul
2 Bäckman-Jensen
3 Almqvist-Marchenko
(Nedomlel-Nicastro)

Stacked

And maybe they'll draft a player like Robert Hägg with their 1st rounder this year, A bäckman type player with higher ceiling...

 

[obey86]

1 Ouellet-Sproul
2 Bäckman-Jensen
3 Almqvist-Marchenko
(Nedomlel-Nicastro)

Stacked

And maybe they'll draft a player like Robert Hägg with their 1st rounder this year, A bäckman type player with higher ceiling...

Assuming 3-4 of these D prospects work out....where the F are they all going to play?

Kronwall isn't going anywhere as he is signed long term obviously.
Doubt Ericsson (age 29) leaves when his contract is up either.
Kindl (age 26) has turned into quite the player IMO.
Dekeyser (age 23) will be here.
Too early to give up on Smith (age 24).....he'll get an extended look at the NHL level and be given time to work out his kinks like Kindl.

That's 4-5 spots locked in pretty long term....obviously I know players like Ericsson, Kindl, and Dekeyer will need to be extended but I think they all will be. They didn't waste all these years developing Kindl to just watch him leave when he finally turned into a good/solid player.

 

[Eye of Ra]

And maybe they'll draft a player like Robert Hägg with their 1st rounder this year, A bäckman type player with higher ceiling...

Hägg is a physical player. Bäckman is not.

 

[Flowah]

You can't really have too many good defensemen. At worst you trade some away for whatever else you need. But we only have 4-5 truly locked down d. In 3-4 years who knows what happens? Maybe it's cheaper to replace Kindl with a new prospect. Have a solid core and introduce new blood while it's safe. That should be easy to do with all these promising picks.

 

[obey86]

You can't really have too many good defensemen. At worst you trade some away for whatever else you need. But we only have 4-5 truly locked down d. In 3-4 years who knows what happens? Maybe it's cheaper to replace Kindl with a new prospect. Have a solid core and introduce new blood while it's safe. That should be easy to do with all these promising picks.

i'm not saying it's a bzd thing.....but it looks like some tough decisions are going to have to be made in a few years.

 

[RedWinger10]

Our future D-corps could be really, really stacked.

Agreed! Time to draft some offense.

 

[Actual Thought*]

You can't really have too many good defensemen. At worst you trade some away for whatever else you need. But we only have 4-5 truly locked down d. In 3-4 years who knows what happens? Maybe it's cheaper to replace Kindl with a new prospect. Have a solid core and introduce new blood while it's safe. That should be easy to do with all these promising picks.

My thoughts exactly. With how hard it is to find quality d-men it seems to me they are like money in the bank. Like pitchers in baseball. You want to hoard them.

 

[Kyleftlx]

I can agree to the hoarding good d-men prospects statement, but I would also like to see Detroit try to move one or two at the draft for a solid NHL upgrade at forward. Holland doesn't do trades generally, but when you have THIS much defensive depth in your system, you can afford to let go of some of them if it means improving the team overall.

 

[Bench]

At worst you trade some away for whatever else you need.

Goligoski for Neal comes to mind immediately.

Having a wealth of defenders is a pretty outstanding problem to have. The trick is holding the right ones and trading the right ones.

 

[Lugaid]

I really like Bäckman. He's tough to get around, even though he's not overly physical, and he reads the play well. He'll play in LHC next season, if all goes as planned he should join the Griffins after the european season is over, and then join them full-out the season after that. Then in 2-3 years I think he'll be a legit call-up. He also has some decent realgud-size.

 

[BF3]

Dude needs about 30 lbs of muscle or he's going to get killed in the NHL in the future. Granted, he has plenty of time to develop his frame, given his height (6'2") he's more than a little skinny.

 

[Actual Thought*]

HF posters clamoring for him to be inserted in the Wing's starting lineup starting in 3.....2......1......and....

 

[Actual Thought*]

I can agree to the hoarding good d-men prospects statement, but I would also like to see Detroit try to move one or two at the draft for a solid NHL upgrade at forward. Holland doesn't do trades generally, but when you have THIS much defensive depth in your system, you can afford to let go of some of them if it means improving the team overall.

I suspect Holland is hoarding defence for just that reason.

 

[DatsyukToZetterberg]

Really happy he was signed he looks poised to be a bottom 4 dman for us, Hakan worked his magic again.

The thing I'm wondering is will we sign Quine? We only have 7 days to get a deal or he goes back into the draft. Anyone hear anything about a contract for him?

 

[Hendricks433]

I can agree to the hoarding good d-men prospects statement, but I would also like to see Detroit try to move one or two at the draft for a solid NHL upgrade at forward. Holland doesn't do trades generally, but when you have THIS much defensive depth in your system, you can afford to let go of some of them if it means improving the team overall.

Agreed, hopefully they make a trade and try and make a move to get a 1st line Center prospect.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Really happy he was signed he looks poised to be a bottom 4 dman for us, Hakan worked his magic again.

The thing I'm wondering is will we sign Quine? We only have 7 days to get a deal or he goes back into the draft. Anyone hear anything about a contract for him?

Been wondering about Quine too, it seems he is going back in the draft, would love for one of our more twitter friendly posters to get a comment out of Khan on it.

Really excited for what Backman will become, he made huge strides offensively, something I hadn't really anticipated and I was already excited about what he would bring defensively. He should be one of the best D-man in SEL next season and I would think he has a very good shot at the WC team, that is what I am hoping to see out of him before coming over.

 

[fimoknete]

and what if none of them pans out as a nr 1 defense man?
then we have then same **** we have now. just with different persons.
and just having 8 nr4 defenseman doesn't solve the problem.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

and what if none of them pans out as a nr 1 defense man?
then we have then same **** we have now. just with different persons.
and just having 8 nr4 defenseman doesn't solve the problem.

You're just a ray of sunshine.

 

[Bench]

You're just a ray of sunshine.

Eternal Sunshine must be rubbing off on him.

But to answer the question, yes, none of them could work out. All the Wings picks could bomb. Then the Wing would end up picking in the top 5 and they'd get some really, really good players. So hey, it's not so bad!

 

[Flowah]

and what if none of them pans out as a nr 1 defense man?
then we have then same **** we have now. just with different persons.
and just having 8 nr4 defenseman doesn't solve the problem.

Wings are pretty good at drafting and developing. I don't think it's realistic to expect them all to bomb.

The area where the Wing's management seems to have problems is FA, trade, and bringing up players. I think we slowplay our talent too much. Especially given the track record of the good drafting/developing. They spend about a year longer in the AHL than I think they need. At least from what I've seen of Smith, Kindl, Tatar, Nyquist.

And even if they do all end up as #4's, that's not terrible. Those guys still have trade value, especially since the Wings end up drafting mostly PMD types. A good solid, middle pairing PMD is a good asset.

 

[1st Line Interloper]

1 Ouellet-Sproul
2 Bäckman-Jensen
3 Almqvist-Marchenko
(Nedomlel-Nicastro)

Stacked

And maybe they'll draft a player like Robert Hägg with their 1st rounder this year, A bäckman type player with higher ceiling...

You have to think that the Griffs defensive lineup won't look like that come the 2013-2014 season. There will definitely be a veteran presence (or two) back there on the blue line to mentor the younger kids. I'd expect Nicastro and/or Nedomlel to be in the ECHL by the time the season starts if Bäckman and Marchenko are in Grand Rapids.

Either way, the defense is stacked with more to come in the future. I have a feeling that the Red Wings may trade away one or more of their defensive prospects because the system is so loaded. Possibly to move up in the draft if somebody like Shinkaruk falls or to get an established player (top 6-9).

It's a good problem to have, but everybody still has to remember that it's a problem. There is a threshold of ice time that the young kids need to have success in the NHL and those young kids cannot continuously rotate out to have that.