Wilson: Celebrating Mikael Backlund after Flames' magical milestone

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To those who have followed my writing for years, I am known as an unabashed defender of Flames captain Mikael Backlund.

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Most believe it is an irrational fandom, as most fandoms are. But my esteem for the player arose from my early obsession with statistics.

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Backlund was picked 24th overall in 2007, right around the time I started to write about the game semi-professionally.

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Back in those days, so-called “advanced stats” were mostly the purview of obsessed, independent writers and hobbyists. One of my habits when Backlund finally made it into the NHL was hand-counting shot attempts and scoring chances for every Flames game. I used a rudimentary, hastily coded tool that was passed around the comments sections of blogs.

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It was during this project that I began to notice something — Backlund’s lines frequently outshot and out-chanced his adversaries.

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This was long before the days of “3M” line combinations featuring other highly capable NHLers. No, Backlund was often paired with, let’s say, a random collection of linemates during his initial seasons.

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Nevertheless, he frequently held the edge in play.

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Backlund never reached the offensive heights that many fans expect of a first-round pick (he has broken 50 points twice in his career). And he’s not particularly big or mean. He doesn’t crash and bang or fight all that often. So his appeal is a subtle one.

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But his noteworthy shot results forced me to watch Backlund closely when I first discovered them.

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“How does he do it?” became an animating question for me.

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If you watch closely, you find a player committed to playing a smart, responsible game. Backlund frequently is on the right side of the puck.

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He’s a relentless forechecker and has the uncanny ability to win board battles, play the cycle game and anticipate his opponent’s next move. He’s an easy guy to play with and a miserable one to face.

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Backlund did not leap into the league as a fully formed two-way menace. It took him several years of demotions, healthy scratches and pep talks from coaches to find his rightful path in the league.

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And it’s a difficult path, to be sure.

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Backlund has spent the better part of a decade eating glass to make his teammates’ lives a little bit easier. Even when the team boasted a handful of its own superstars, it often fell to Backlund to take on some of the heavy minutes.

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During his dominion as their shutdown centre, no Flames forward has taken more offensive draws, played more short-handed minutes, or spent more time against the other club’s best forwards. Even this year, at 35 years old, Backlund leads the team in defensive zone starts at even strength.