David Backes wasn’t in need of any more motivation this summer — given how his 2018-19 campaign ended.
Tabbed as a healthy scratch for the first time in 12 years back in January, Backes quickly became a man without a line on the Bruins — with the 35-year-old veteran unable to play at the pace necessary for top-six reps, while also struggling to earn consistent minutes on a deep bottom-six corps featuring the likes of Sean Kuraly, Chris Wagner, Noel Acciari and Joakim Nordstrom.
Backes has taken his lumps over three seasons in Boston — suffering multiple concussions, a bout of diverticulitis, colon surgery and a skate blade to the leg, to name just a few ailments.
But all that pain became secondary to what Backes experienced on June 12, 2019, as he watched from high above the TD Garden ice as his former team — the St. Louis Blues — beat the Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to clinch the franchise's first championship.
Backes, who had captained the Blues for five seasons, was scratched for the final three games of the series.
Diagnosing his own future in Boston as being ‘in flux’, Backes returned home to Minnesota at a bit of a crossroads — but committed to extending his career and making good on the five-year, $30 million contract he inked with the Bruins back in 2016.
“I think the way it ended, it kind of lit a fire under me for the summer and I think I've put the work in. … Personally, I didn’t take any vacations in the summer," Backes said. "I limited my time, which is my little serenity time at our property and on my tractor to spend extra time in the gym and on the ice.”
But even during the quiet months of June and July, Bakes was dealt another blow.
On a day that started with a harmless game of shinny with some old high-school buddies, events transpired that had Backes feeling “maybe the most humbled I’d ever been in my life.”
While chumming it up with his pals, Backes received a text from a friend, who asked if the NHL vet had time to visit the next rink over. On the ice was a group of 12-year-old girls — who wanted to meet the Bruins forward prior to their practice. Backes obliged, and even laced up his skates as the girls worked on mohawk turns and the subsequent acceleration out of the maneuver. Things went south very quickly.
"I’m jumping in the drill with them — and I couldn’t do the drill," Backes said. "I went home and I said, 'This is divine intervention'".
Backes knew that something needed to be done. So for the first time in 15 years, the power forward got on the phone and found himself a skating coach.
For most of the summer, Backes spent three or four days a week working on the ice with Katie McDonough — a former figure skater that currently serves as the founder and director of Cutting Edge Performance Power Skating in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
"I called (her) and I said, 'I need you. Help me'. And she helped me," Backes said. "It was painful at times, I’m not going to lie. But I think it’s translated into what I need now."
McDonough, who began a competitive figure-skating career at just three years old, put Backes in his place time and time again during their sessions out on the ice.
"It was a rude awaking on Day 1," Backes said. "And then Night 1 and Day 2 of how sore I was when I was back to using muscles that I had either neglected or had stiffened up. ... I’d say that she was mean to me, but it was necessary because I think I really needed it. Just being intentional with my skating, which I took for granted and kind of thought it was all going to happen or that I've done this for so long, that it’s all going to happen. It was a little divine intervention, but it was just seemingly meant to be. "
All of the pain and grueling workouts put in over the span of three months in Minnesota appear to have paid off for Backes, who is still fighting for a regular spot on a loaded Bruins roster in 2019-20. The winger's place on this club is on even shakier ground than it was in June — with the additions of Brett Ritchie and Par Lindholm, and the expected strides made by younger forwards like Anders Bjork, leaving Backes on the outside looking in.
Backes may not suddenly become the American Pavel Bure out on the sheet, but McDonough's efforts have allowed him to keep pace in a game that has continued to get faster and faster. He certainly didn't look a step behind during Wednesday's preseason victory over the Devils at TD Garden, as a line of Bjork-Lindholm-Backes dominated on just about every shift they were called out for — while Backes tallied a goal in the final stanza off of a nifty backhand shot.
Despite only taking three faceoffs in the offensive zone all night, that line was possession machine against the Devils, with Boston holding a commanding 10-2 edge in shots on goal and a 17-8 edge in shot attempts during the 13:22 of TOI that the line was utilized. A big part of that line's success was Backes' ability to use his size to win puck battles and hold on to the biscuit, but his new-found speed allowed him to wheel around in the O-zone and bring the puck in close much quicker than in years past.
"That line was excellent," Bruce Cassidy said. "Those guys are all trying to, obviously, they know time’s running out. They were told time was running out, if we’re going to play more of our lineup Saturday. I’m glad they took a good step forward."
With camp cuts on the horizon, Backes knows that remaining as a regular contributor on this club is not a guarantee, by any means — with a demotion to Providence standing as the worst-case scenario for all parties.
But when assessing his own game, Backes feels as though he's primed for a turnaround in Year 4 of his tenure as a Bruin.