David Backes prefaced any talk regarding his latest role on the Bruins with a candid declaration.
“I think the second you say that, there’s probably going to be a switch in the lines,” Backes said Thursday of his success on a new-look line. “So I’m not going to count any chickens until they’re hatched.”
Like most B’s forwards during a year marked with numerous lineup switches and injuries, Backes has found his name slotted in a slew of combinations up and down Bruce Cassidy’s depth chart in 2018-19 — earning reps as Boston’s third-line center, a stopgap option in a top-six role, and even spending a couple of games stuck up at press level as a healthy scratch.
It’s hardly been what Backes or the Bruins envisioned when both parties agreed to a five-year, $30 million contract back in the summer of 2016 — but after having a conversation with Cassidy in mid-February about his current role with the club, Backes seems to have found some clarity.
He may not be the top-six option he was during his years with the Blues, nor might he be the best fit on a revamped third line anchored in the middle by Charlie Coyle. But on a hard-nosed, north-south checking line? Backes might have finally found a regular home in Cassidy’s rotation.
A physical winger with plenty of size (6-foot-3, 215 pounds), Backes was one of the more feared power forwards in the game during his tenure in St. Louis, earning Selke votes as an imposing pivot often ready and willing to throw his weight around.
But as today’s NHL has continued to value speed over snarl and puck-handling over physicality, Backes has often found himself as a man without a line on this Bruins' club — especially after falling out of regular reps on Boston’s top-six unit.
Backes settled into a groove last season on a third line featuring Riley Nash and Danton Heinen, but Nash’s departure in free agency led to a devastating domino effect across the roster — with Backes often bounced from line to line in search of a proper fit for the tenacious forward. So far, he’s seemed to find that equilibrium as part of a heavier pool of forwards, comprised of Noel Acciari, Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner.
Rolling out a player with an annual cap hit of $6 million on a fourth line might be a tough pill to swallow, but it’s hard to argue with the results so far.
While Boston has been on the wrong side of scoring chances generated (minus-13 differential) during the 684:31 of 5v5 TOI in which Backes has had his name called, the winger has often been at his best while filling out Boston’s fourth line.
Limited to six goals and 18 points over 63 games this year, Backes has started to string together some encouraging offensive showings as part of a trio that, go figure, has combined for just 17 total goals all season. While injuries have forced Cassidy to rework his checking line on the fly, there might be something there with Acciari centering a revamped group with Backes and Joakim Nordstrom on the wing.
Saturday’s impressive 7-3 win over the Panthers stood as the third game in a row in which Boston’s fourth line has lit the lamp — as Backes (reading some truly heinous defensive coverage by the Panthers in the slot) fed Acciari with an easy dish in front to open the scoring just 2:23 into regulation.
As evidenced by Acciari's opening strike Saturday or Backes’ goal two nights prior against the Devils — his first tally in 23 games — this new grouping may not be flashy, but doing the simple things (winning puck battles, entrenching bodies near the blue paint) has started to pay dividends.
During Thursday’s victory in New Jersey — on a night in which the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line combined for eight points — the Nordstrom-Acciari-Backes line might have been Cassidy’s most reliable option up front, with the Bruins holding a dominant 10-1 edge in 5v5 scoring chances generated during the 10:46 TOI in which that group was called. No other B’s line created more than three 5v5 scoring chances.
As a whole, Boston’s new-look fourth line has helped alleviate the team's secondary-scoring woes, generating three 5v5 goals (and just one goal against) over 53:25 of TOI together, to go along with a plus-6 differential in terms of scoring chances created.
It may not be Boston’s conventional checking-line trio of Acciari linked up with Wagner and Kuraly
, but with Kuraly now out for four weeks with a fractured hand and Wagner promoted to the third line, Cassidy has been more than pleased with how his new combination has fared.
New cast or not, it’s becoming pretty evident that Backes is now at his best when utilized in a straight-line role on this roster — as the veteran was the final piece in what was a dominant puck-possession configuration earlier this year with Kuraly and Wagner. They might have only generated two goals during 100:33 of 5v5 TOI, but a Kuraly-Backes-Wagner combo also generated a 59.46 Corsi For Percentage to go along with a plus-23 shot differential and a plus-9 differential in high-danger scoring chances created. That’s dominant stuff from a fourth line.
“Backes, a lot has been talked about where he fits in and I think him being a little more belligerent in his play has allowed him to excel on that line,” Cassidy said on Saturday. “Listen, he played hard his whole career, it's what he was brought to Boston to do. The pace of the league has picked up, so it makes it a little more difficult, the amount of hitting has changed and maybe what you're able to get away with from 10 years ago. He's had to adjust some of his game, but it's still what he's done best.
“I think he's kind of found himself again and his style of play on that line where he's able to be hard and physical. Play a solid role for us without being a guy that puts pressure on himself to score and put up the big numbers he used to. And that's fine. He's given us some solid play for 10-12-14 minutes, whatever it is. And I think he feels a lot better about his game and as a result, he has more jump in his game. Good for him. We've kind of found a place for him. ... It's better late than never. Hope it continues."
While Backes has been strong with Nordstrom and Acciari, nothing is guaranteed when it comes to established forward lines with this group, with
Marcus Johansson’s
likely return this week potentially putting one of those forwards out of the rotation. Things will likely get even more complicated when Kuraly is given a clean bill of health in about a month.
But as Cassidy starts to patch together his forward combos with the postseason just a little over two weeks away, Boston’s bench boss can’t overlook the role that Backes has carved out for himself down on that fourth line — no matter who he slots in with. So long as there are bodies to be hit and pucks to be won, Backes is happy to oblige.
“We’ve got a lot of capable forwards and finding that chemistry would be great, especially going into the playoffs. But as we get healthy bodies back, I’m sure they’ll be a little more shifting around," Backes said. "I guess the good thing is, I’ve probably played with everybody on the team, as far as the forwards, so there’s going to no surprises and we'll find that chemistry and we’ll do our work and whatever that is to try and help us win games. If’s that scoring goals, great, but if that's just good offensive zone draws .. we’re going to take those as feathers in our cap that we’re contributing to a team win.”
