Less than 48 hours after the Bruins’ season came to a crushing end, David Backes still struggled to center his thoughts when addressing the media at Warrior Ice Arena on Friday afternoon.
Wednesday’s 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Blues in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final devastated all present in a somber locker room at TD Garden. But for Backes, it was a particularly hard pill to swallow.
Coming up one win short of that elusive championship, the 35-year-old forward was forced to watch his current teammates falter without him on the ice Wednesday, as the veteran was scratched for the final three games of the seven-game series — and for nine total playoff bouts during this Cup run.
Twisting the knife even further was Wednesday’s victor in St. Louis, a franchise where he played for 10 seasons in his career — including five as captain.
“I guess maybe a culmination of six, seven days ... before that, a lot of uncertainty and feelings of possibilities, potential opportunities, all those sorts of things, missed opportunities,” Backes said of his current frame of mind. “It's a swirl and a whirlwind of emotions that I haven't fully gripped and I don't know that I will in the near future. I don’t know if my situation, all of the extra layers helps, hurts.”
While Game 7 remains fresh in the minds of Backes and his teammates, he knows that more trying scenarios lie ahead this summer.
Backes would be the first to tell you that the 2018-19 campaign — and his tenure in Boston as a whole — has not exactly gone as planned.
Signed to a five-year, $30 million contract in the summer of 2016, Backes was added to this current veteran core in an effort to provide a physical presence in a top-six role and keep Boston’s title window open.
Limited to 38 points over 74 games — his lowest scoring totals since his first full NHL campaign in 2007-08 — Backes and the Bruins were knocked out of the playoffs at the hands of the Senators in the first round. The 2017-18 campaign saw Backes deal with a bout of diverticulitis, colon surgery and a skate blade to the leg, limiting him to 57 games and 33 points.
This year, Backes was primarily relegated to a bottom-six role, with most of his 5v5 TOI split between Joakim Nordstrom and Noel Acciari (107 minutes together), as well as Chris Wagner and Sean Kuraly (100 minutes together).
Still, Backes was often on the wrong end of Bruce Cassidy’s lineup shuffles this season, forming part of 17 different forward combinations that logged at least 10 minutes of 5v5 TOI together during the regular season. For the first time in 12 years, he was finally tagged as a healthy scratch back in January, setting the stage for his limited reps this postseason.
Fair to say, it appears as though the writing is on the wall when it comes to Backes and the Bruins.
“Nine of 24 playoff games,” Backes said of the amount of contests he sat out. “I’m not naive. If you’ve got a chance to win the Stanley Cup, you put your best lineup out there and try to win a game. I wasn’t one of those guys.”
Looking ahead, Backes said that not too much was able to be drawn from his exit meeting on Friday, but added that quite a lot remains up in the air.
“To dive too deep into next steps, we didn’t get there, at least in our meetings,” he said. “I don’t know what that looks like. Probably have a better answer for you when I have more control of my future. But I’m in flux at the moment and I guess I gotta trust in the bigger plan and that’s kind of where I’m at.”
As for what said bigger plan is, remains to be seen.
Given Backes’ production and what stands as a $6 million cap hit over each of the next two seasons, the obvious move from Boston’s perspective would be finding a way to move the veteran and clear some cap room, especially with RFAs in Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo and Danton Heinen due for pay raises — while UFAs like Marcus Johansson, Noel Acciari and Steven Kampfer set to test the market.
Ridding themselves of that contract is easier said than done, however.
Saturday will mark the start of buyout period during the NHL offseason, a tactic that the Bruins have used over the years to lessen the burden of contracts such as Jimmy Hayes and Dennis Seidenberg.
However, given the amount of bonus money still yet to be paid out to Backes, a buyout wouldn’t provide much relief for Boston.
If Boston opts to keep Backes on the books, here’s how his cap hit maps out:
2019-20: $6 million cap hit
2020-21: $6 million cap hit
If Boston bought out Backes, here’s what you’re looking at:
2019-20: $5,666,667 million cap hit
2020-21: $3,666,667 million cap hit
2021-22: $666,667
2023-23: $666,667
Taking a $5.6 million cap hit to a player that won’t even be on the roster isn’t exactly what the Bruins are looking for.
A trade would likely stand as the best resolution for all parties, with Backes’ current contract shifting from a full no-movement clause to a modified NTC in 2019-20. As such, Backes could be moved for the right price, although it seems like a given that the Bruins would have to either have to eat some cash in a deal or sweeten a trade by including a pick or a prospect. Not ideal — but necessary if it clears Backes’ contract.
While his future with the Bruins seems unlikely going into 2019-20, Backes still did note that if there’s a spot for him, he wants to continue to help this current group orchestrate another deep Cup run.
Whether or not that’s realistic, we’ll soon find out.
“I don’t know what that time schedule looks like,” Backes said of when he hopes to get more clarity on his situation. “I know what my contract says for trade team list and what that looks like. Obviously, if I’m going somewhere else — which I hope to not be. This is a hell of group in here and a great group of guys, a great group of wives. There’s a reason we got so far in this payoffs, because you care about each other it, you lean on each other and you want to do it for the guy next to you.
I believe this is a winning pedigree and a winning culture in here and we were one game away from winning the Stanley Cup, which is one of those last goals on my list before my career is over. I think this is a good place to accomplish that. Whether or not there's another crack for me, I truly don’t know.”
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