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In what felt like the organization’s busiest July 1st in years, the first day of free agency came and went with seven (all over the board signings) by general manager Don Sweeney and the Boston Bruins.
The Bruins brought four back into the fold with the re-signing of
John-Michael Liles ($2 million) and
Tyler Randell ($600,000) to one-year deals, while 30-year-old backup netminder
Anton Khudobin returns to the Bruins organization after stops in Carolina and Anaheim most recently on a two-year deal worth $2.4 million total ($1.2 million cap hit). Defenseman
Tommy Cross, part of the leadership group down in Providence with 217 games of AHL experience to his name, was also signed to a one-year, two-way contract worth $600,000 at the NHL level.
Sweeney then bolstered the depth of the organization with outside the organization talents, including former Carolina Hurricane forward
Riley Nash, who was signed to a two-year contract worth $1.8 million in total ($900,000 cap-hit per season) and Providence College alum (and New Hampshire native)
Tim Schaller to a one-year, two-way contract worth $600,000 at the NHL level.
But the talk all came back to do-it-all forward
David Backes, who was signed to a five-year, $30 million contract, shortly after the free agency window opened for the league last Friday.
“It’s the package,” Sweeney, now in his second free agency frenzy go-round, said when asked what interested the club in Backes. “Obviously the leadership qualities, they went for a real deep run. He’s hungry to have another opportunity to win. During our conversations he spoke about knowing our team and how hard they are to play against, respecting our leaders and our club. He’s done his due diligence with a number of players that we have on the horizon. He knows this was a full commitment from the ownership, you know, with Cam [Neely], Claude [Julien] involved, players involved. We just went about our business to identify David as a player that our other players want to play with and set examples. And I don't think you can have enough of those, and strength up the middle of the ice is paramount.”
With
Loui Eriksson out of town on a six-year, $30 million deal with the Vancouver Canucks, the 32-year-old Backes comes to Boston as a direct replacement for No. 21, even if the B’s do not want to consider him one. The truth is that the Bruins opted not to pay Eriksson through his Age 36 season, but are willing to do so with Backes, so in a way, Boston
did pick Backes over Eriksson.
“I think term has always been something that everybody was concerned about with all of our players. That was something that we felt we need to be careful about,” Sweeney said of going five years with Backes versus six with Eriksson. “We fell a year shy of that with David and felt more comfortable. Did we know that at the particular time we made a decision on Loui, no, but I believe that David provides versatility we’re excited about. And understanding where our lineup is and the young players that will be around primary centers and allowing David, as I mentioned, to go to the wing if we have other players – I mentioned Ryan Spooner, I would mention [Jakob] Forsbacka-Karlsson at some point in time will land on our doorstep. And that will spread things out. It might be the same thing in terms of having Zach Senyshyn or [Jake] DeBrusk or [Danton] Heinen and [Seth] Griffith if he comes up.”
It’s a deal that Backes could not find in St. Louis, the only city that he had called home in his NHL career, and captained for half a decade (and wore a letter of some sort for seven of 10 seasons).
“It wasn't an agreement on term or dollars,” Backes admitted of his situation in St. Louis. “Typically, without getting into any specifics, you want to give one and get the other or, you know, and vice versa. And it just didn’t seem like there was much movement and more of a business approach from their end.
“And I respect that and it’s their right, but also a right that I’ve earned to explore the market and see what else is out there. And knowing how a few teams had approached me, a few a little more aggressive than others, we decided on free agency, ended up going for July 1 at noon eastern, that we’d have a few cities and we may need to turn that page. And again the fit with Boston … Every time I had a conversation with someone from the organization, that kind of goosebump feeling on your arms and that emotional connection and thought process towards what it would be like to maybe have a different sweater and be able to join what they’re trying to do in Boston really just kept building.”
While Backes has already fallen for the allure of Boston Hockey, Bruins fans will in turn love Backes, a heart-and-soul player if there ever was one, just as much when they see what he brings to the ice every shift on every night. And that will never be the issue for the 17,565 in the crowd.
The issue is whether or not they’ll love it as the deal progresses on into its third and fourth season.
“I’m 32. I’m not 52,” Backes quipped when talking about his grinding style of play and its effects on the body. “I think there’s plenty of legs and plenty of physicality and energy left in me and the term’s been something that maybe a few people have questioned, but for me, I expect to still be at the top of my game for that last year and be a contributing member for the Boston Bruins and training differences, being able to really take care of my body, listening to it and just give everything I’ve got and I think that’s the way I’m going about it and I would expect to be really good in that fifth year still.”
It’s not the years that should concern with Backes, though, it’s the minutes that have been put on Backes through the years. Over the last five years, Backes is one of just 14 NHL forwards to have logged over 7,000 minutes of time-on-ice (Backes ranks 14th, at 7,038:11). He’s logged the most shifts over that stretch, too, with over 10,000 to his name (though it’s fair to admit that the number could be skewed as some shifts can be a simple battle at the dot in the d-zone and then back to the bench).
That stretch has come with an extensive penalty-killing resume, too, as only Anze Kopitar and Tomas Plekanec are the only other two in that 7,000-minute club that have averaged more shorthanded time-on-ice per game than Backes (1:49). In other words, the minutes have been
heavy.
“We talked about the opportunity – most players would look at it and say, ‘Well, you’ve got Bergeron and Krejci, where am I playing?’ And David looked at it and said, ‘Boy, I get to play with Bergeron and Krejci, whether I’m playing behind them or with them on the wings,’” Sweeney said of Backes’ role within the team. “And he acknowledges, like ‘Wow, we’re a really deep team.’ I said to him, ‘Well, you might not start 62 percent of the time in your own zone as a result of this, and Bergeron might not have to take every draw in every penalty kill situation.’ And Krejci might get offensive starts that have drifted away from his game, so it just, there’s a domino effect in identifying what David Backes can bring to the table to our hockey club. But then you talk about the character piece, the leadership qualities and his willingness to want to win and it aligns with the guys that have won. And the more we can surround our team and identify our team in that regard – now, this all being said, that our younger players have to step forward, emerge, have the opportunity to take a hold of it, and these guys are going to be the leading core to get us to where we want to go, and our younger players have to jump on board.”
Point blank: Does a Backes-for-Eriksson swap make the Bruins a better team right now? Sure, maybe.
But if it does, it’s by the thinnest of margins imaginable, and really only ‘cause of Backes’ versatility as either a center on the B’s third line (barring a
David Krejci trade) or right-wing alongside Krejci or
Patrice Bergeron in the Boston top six. And though most of Boston’s talks with Backes focused on No. 42 playing down the middle, Backes did note that he’s not against moving around if it means that the Bruins will be better off for it, such as a straight-up nightmarish line with Backes plugged on the right wing next to Bergeron and
Brad Marchand as a three-zone juggernaut.
“I’m into winning games,” Backes noted in a conference call. “So if Claude [Julien] thinks that we’re going to win more games with me playing wing then I’m in If he thinks that we’re going to win more games with me playing center, I’m in. Whatever he thinks, I’ll do it to the best of my ability.”
And after two straight failures out of postseason play, winning games right now and not four years from now when Backes and everyone on this current core has aged, is all the Bruins are focused on.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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