Backlund is the right guy to call up IF:
A) He plays on the power play.
B) He plays on the top two lines.
This morning he practiced with Glencross and Nystrom, if they wanted an energy grinder they should have called up Jaffray.
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Lots of comments on how barren the Flames system is and the blame lies with Daryl Sutter, allow me to play devils advocate... When Sutter took over we could barely ice half a team in Lowell. Now we have a three tier system, and there are some guys in it who will play in the NHL. Jaffray has, Backlund has and will, Chucko has. Even the younger guys like Seabrook, Pelech, Irving, Wahl, Howse and Nemisz will eventually be in the bigs. Good bet Erixon will too...
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Speculation that the Flames have called up Backlund to showcase him as trade bait. This is not going to happen, he is the closest thing to a number 1 center we have drafted since the 80's. It's been pointed out he has less than stellar numbers in the AHL, that's true but it should also be noted he's playing on different ice with a new level of competition and despite that has been very productive lately moving from 8th in team scoring to third. This is partly due to getting better ice time after Lundmark was called up.
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Conroy is not really injured, he was out past his curfew at the Sunnyside old folks home and is in really big trouble now, they are going to with hold his beef stroganoff portion this week.
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Dawes and Moss are injured, interesting to see if their replacements will do better than they have. Lundmark is playing really well and if Backlund can prove he can get more than 10 goals and 10 assists in a full season Moss could be shipped out.
Well...at least we scored 3 goals. Sigh.
Backlund scored. Did what they called him up to do. 'nuff said. If one thing sutter isn't it is a GM how will sell the future for immediate gain