MEMORY LANE
Flames’ Mikael Backlund looks back fondly on his welcome-to-the-bigs
CALGARY — The plan was that Mikael Backlund would simply pit-stop at the Saddledome as he played the waiting game.
The teenage prospect never imagined he would be suiting up for his first NHL game.
It’s been decade since Backlund — now the longest-serving forward for the Calgary Flames — unexpectedly logged his big-league debut during a dizzying week that also included a loss in the gold-medal showdown at the world junior tournament and ultimately an assignment to spend the remainder of the winter with the Western Hockey League’s Kelowna Rockets.
“After world juniors, I was told to go to Calgary, just trying to get the paperwork and all that done so I could go to play in Kelowna,” Backlund recalled. “The next day, I was told to go the rink and I just sat there in the lounge, hanging out. And all of a sudden, (Todd) Bertuzzi had some bad groins, so they were like, ‘Hey, you’re going to play tonight.’
“I was really shocked, but also just really excited. I had heard rumblings that Bertuzzi was hurt, but I didn’t think I was going to get picked to play. But then more and more, I hoped for it.
“It was a cool thing to get that game, just out of the blue.”
Back then, a 19-year-old Backlund was a blue-chip prospect for a franchise in the midst of a seemingly endless search to find a playmaking pivot to skate alongside sharpshooter Jarome Iginla.
While he’s become a fixture on the second power-play unit and a frequent chipper-inner on offence, he is now most valuable to the Flames in his role as a shutdown centre.
With the Avalanche paying a visit Wednesday to the Saddledome (7:30 p.m., Sportsnet West/Sportsnet 960 The Fan), that is sure to mean a matchup against Colorado’s terrifying trio of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog.
It was on the night of Jan. 8, 2009, that the Flames’ faithful glimpsed Backlund in game action for the first time.
Three nights earlier, on the Monday of that week, he and his Team Sweden pals had been digesting the disappointment of a 5-1 loss to John Tavares, P.K. Subban and the host Canadians in the world-junior finale in Ottawa.
Fast-forward to the Thursday, and the up-and-comer — a first-round selection in the 2007 NHL Draft — was in relax-mode when he received word from general manager Darryl Sutter around noon that he’d be gearing up for a home date against the New York Islanders.
He had lunch with some of the regulars.
He did his darnedest to drift off for a nap afterward.
Wearing No. 60 that evening and flanked by wing-men Curtis Glencross and David Moss, Backlund registered 10:44 of icetime. He was credited with one shot on net, one takeaway and swiped just two of seven at the faceoff dot.
The Flames, on the strength of a three-point performance by Daymond Langkow, notched a 5-2 victory.
“I remember hitting the post, first shift,” Backlund said. “Right after my first O-zone faceoff, I hit the post right away. And I remember just having fun, thinking to myself, ‘This is pretty cool.’
“I was still star-struck with all the guys on my team, but I felt good on the ice. I remember I felt comfortable out there, and I thought I had a good game.”
It was upwards of a year before Backlund — after a WHL championship run with the Rockets and some seasoning at AHL Abbotsford — would wear the Flaming C for a second time.
Now 29 and with an ‘A’ stitched on his jersey as an alternate captain, he is creeping toward the 600-game plateau at the highest level. Just like that.
There is not a lot of time to reminisce in Backlund’s biz but he holds fond memories of that welcome-to-the-bigs moment that is now a decade in his rearview mirror.
He also participated in the Flames’ skills competition before heading to Kelowna, the change of scenery he needed after a frustrating fall with Vasteras in Sweden’s second-tier pro loop.
“I realized when the world juniors started that, ‘Wow, it’s actually 10 years since I played in that tournament my second time,’ ” Backlund said recently. “It has flown by. It’s crazy how it feels like yesterday but it doesn’t at the same time.
“Ten years … Still some good memories.”
Now in the first winter of a six-year, US$32.1-million contract extension, he’ll be around the Saddledome for a long while yet.
“There have been some ups and downs during my time in Calgary, some injuries, and I’m just proud that I’ve been sticking with it and sticking in this league,” Backlund said. “That’s not easy to do, and I’m very proud of that.”