David Backes on high hit from Matt Benning: ‘That’s a hit that we’re trying to get out of the game’

Barring any major setbacks, David Backes is set to rejoin the Bruins’ lineup for Saturday’s anticipated road tilt against the Nashville Predators.

The skater had missed the past five games after taking a high hit from Oilers defenseman Matt Benning back on Oct. 18. While Backes eventually returned to the game against Edmonton, he was a late scratch two days later against the Canucks, with the team eventually ruling him out for the next two weeks due to an upper-body injury.

On Thursday, Backes noted the injury he sustained from the high hit was related to his history of concussions, adding that he has suffered three of them since signing with the Bruins in 2016.

For Backes, who has been vocal about the shift in today’s NHL — especially in terms of the ability to answer on the ice against questionable hits — Benning’s hit was another example in which he didn’t have many options to defend himself. Meanwhile, the Oilers defenseman was not penalized by the league for the hit.



“I saw him coming out of the corner of my eye and I’m bracing for a hit,” Backes said of Benning’s shot. “It’s one of those ones where I feel like he’s got every opportunity to hit me through the body and maybe separate me from the puck. But the majority, if not all the contact, was right to my face or jaw or chin.

“To me, that’s a hit that we’re trying to get out of the game. You’ve got every opportunity to hit through a guy’s body, but it put me out for two weeks. … I don’t know. I’ve had other people say, ‘Next guy that hits you anywhere up high, take a five-game suspension on them.’ I don’t know if that’s the way about it either. But there’s a time when, if you’re not being protected elsewhere, you’ve got to take it into your own hands."

Backes, 34, has now suffered at least two concussion-related injuries in the span of six months. He was knocked out of the playoffs following a big hit from Lightning forward J.T. Miller during Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals in May.

In a game as fast-paced and physical as hockey, Backes knows it’s impossible to fully prevent dangerous hits and head injuries. However, the league’s reaction when it comes to rooting out the offenders has been inconsistent.

While the NHL has come down heavy on Tom Wilson with a 20-game suspension due to repeated incidents, it only suspended Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki one game for throwing an elbow that concussed Bruins defenseman Urho Vaakanainen on Oct. 23.

After serving his short suspension, Borowiecki returned to Ottawa’s lineup and threw another dangerous check to the head of Vegas forward Cody Eakin in the Sens’ next matchup — earning himself three-game suspension.

In all three, of the hits that have concussed Backes with the Black and Gold, he noted that suspensions were never handed out to any of the offenders after the fact.

“You start piling them up,” Backes said. “It’s not fun no matter when -- or if -- you have another concussion. But you start adding them up and try working through it. If you’re multiplying them on top of each other, it starts to get dangerous. Yeah, I think there’s a sensitivity level throughout the league, throughout the educated world that you don’t want to get hit in the head unnecessarily.

“Is it part of the game? It certainly is part of our game. I mean, maybe not contact to the head. But unnecessary contact to the head when there’s an opportunity to go through a guy’s body and have the same effect. … That’s paramount to how the game is trying to be changed. In the three concussions I’ve had since I’ve been here, there hasn’t been any suspensions on them. I think all three have been on the line or over the line.”

At what point is another concussion too much for Backes, who has also suffered similar injuries during his 10 seasons with the St. Louis Blues? We’ve already seen some veterans, including former Bruin Rick Nash, put his playing career on hold as he recovers from concussion-like symptoms that he suffered during the 2017-18 season.

“I’ve done some research,” Backes said. “I don’t know if there’s a direct link between 14 (concussions) or seven or two is when all of the sudden you’re degenerating or getting your tau proteins in your head to start developing CTE. I think there’s not enough evidence yet. With that being said, not getting to that magic number is certainly something that I’d like to avoid.”

For now, Backes will focus on getting back on track after opening the season with no points through seven games. He will likely return to the wing on Boston’s third line, with Joakim Nordstrom centering the trio alongside either Anders Bjork or Ryan Donato.

“It’s a work in progress,” Backes said of solving Boston’s secondary scoring issues. “There’s been times where we’ve put our game out there, and obviously the majority of our scoring has come from our top line, but that’s what they do.

“They’re one of the best lines in hockey and they’re going to produce for us. How do we find the secondary, tertiary scoring? We continue to work through that, but I think we’re finding our game.  … We look for that opportunity, wait for it to come and hopefully capitalize on it.”