The last time David Backes addressed the media outside of his stall at Warrior Ice Arena, the veteran power forward didn’t have much to offer in terms of his future in Boston.
It was surprising that Backes had the wherewithal to shed light on much of anything after what was an already trying season for the winger concluded with his former club in the St. Louis Blues — a team he captained for five years — bested the Bruins at TD Garden to clinch the franchise's first Stanley Cup.
While most of his teammates collapsed on the ice in shock, Backes had to absorb the crushing loss from high above the ice — as he was scratched for the final three games of the Stanley Cup Final.
"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," Backes said during breakup day back in June.
Less than three months later, Backes fielded many of the same questions concerning his future in Boston, with the 35-year-old skater looking to rebound and make good on the final two years and $12 million remaining on his contract.
But the important question regarding Backes' tenure in Boston has yet to be answered — is there even a regular role for Backes on this club?
"I channeled some of it," Backes said of how he responded to last year's disappointing campaign. "Festered some of it away and let it motivate me. I needed to focus myself on what I can do as an athlete - having a great summer so I can do what I do best and that’s play the game and not worry about other decisions that I don’t get to make. That’s out of my control. What’s in my control is each shift, each play, each moment. That’s what I’m going to focus on all year starting with the testing this morning and it will roll into practice tomorrow. That’s my focus. That moment. That drill."
Despite starting his Bruins career as a top-six option back in 2016, Backes was primarily relegated to a bottom-six role in 2018-19, 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, even with his minutes cut back, Backes was still on the wrong end of Bruce Cassidy’s lineup shuffles in 2018-19, forming part of 17 different forward combinations that logged at least 10 minutes of 5v5 TOI together during the regular season.
With a team-leading 0.94 goals against per 60 minutes of play, Backes wasn't much of a liability in Boston's own zone, but he didn't do the Bruins any factors down the other end of the ice, with Boston's shot rates plummeting whenever he was deployed out on the ice.
Now, utilizing Backes in a fourth-line, north-west role designed to add some snarl to the lineup could provide some value to this Bruins club.
All things considered, the numbers were pretty encouraging when the veteran was primarily tasked with slowing down an opposing top-six line, rather than asked to drive a line of his own.
Nordstrom-Acciari-Backes: 107 minutes of 5v5 TOI together — 5 5v5 goals scored / 2 goals against – Bruins held a 90-73 edge in shot attempts (55.21 CF%) & a plus-13 shot differential
Wagner-Kuraly-Backes: 100 minutes of 5v5 TOI together — 2 5v5 goals scored / 1 goal against — Bruins held a 109-75 edge in shot attempts (59.24 CF%) & a plus-22 shot differential
But with newcomers in Brett Ritchie and Par Lindholm set to compete for those same bottom-six minutes, to go along with pushes in camp from youngsters like Zach Senyshyn, Oskar Steen, Anders Bjork and more, regular minutes may be hard to come by this season for Backes.
"We revisited a little bit of what he can do to stay in the lineup this year and what’s ahead," Cassidy said of his latest discussions with Backes on his role this season. "It’s hard to predict what’s ahead. Lindholm and Ritchie, they’re NHL players who are going to compete. Ritchie plays the same position as Backes. We’ll see what kind of advances (Karson) Kuhlman has made. So the message to David was essentially, there’s competition on that side of the ice, but if he gets back to the level that we feel he can get to, then he’ll have a spot. How much minutes he gets from there? Well, that‘s going to depend on the growth of some players and the chemistry involved."
After seeing the Blues bully the Bruins and beat them at their own game with a suffocating forecheck and an imposing blue line, Backes believes that the bread and butter of his game can still be channeled to help Boston fend off teams that value size over skill.
"It’s kind of a copycat league where whoever’s had the success lately, everyone else tries to mimic them and implement what they did to have that success," Backes said of the Blues. "Maybe rightfully so, because they did have that success. I don’t know how that looks, but I know what it looked like from my vantage point, coming into those few games in the Finals.
"Maybe there is a little more value on the heft and getting to the net, cycling pucks and owning the O-zone and just grinding teams down. It’s kind of my game, so I’m hoping that’s valued, but if that isn’t, then it's a little bit of being flexible and assimilating to the new game, which I’ve been trying to do and hopefully I’m ready for that too."
On paper, it would seem as though Backes is on the outside looking in at a regular spot on this Bruins roster. Of course, Backes could thrive as a fourth-line option and depth forward (albeit an expensive one), but it remains to be seen just how much the veteran would want to accept such a role.
But barring a trade or a demotion to Providence as a cost-cutting measure, it might just be the hand that Backes is dealt this season.
Challenge accepted, it seems.
“Balls to the wall," Backes said of his ramp-up to a new season. "It's the only way. Start first shift of the first drill in practice. Give it everything I got and until they tell me I'm done playing, then that's the way I'm always going to be, regardless of training camp, regular season, training all summer. That’s my mindset and I’ve got plenty of fuel burning inside of me and the fire to accomplish that.”
Stats and graphs via Natural Stat Trick, Corsica, Corey Sznajder, Sean Tierney and HockeyViz.
