The St. Louis Blues will need to name a new captain as David Backes has signed a deal with the Boston Bruins. The deal is over five years and will pay $6 million per season.
https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/748913534013022208
Heading into the 2016 NHL Draft and the free agency window, it looked like Backes and the Blues might be able to work out a deal. The team cleared some cap space by trading away Brian Elliott and the belief was that there’d be no issue bringing back either Backes or Troy Brouwer while still having some space to address other issues.
The Blues reportedly made a late push to sign Backes, but fell short.
Looks like David Backes going to market. STL took a run at re-signing him this morning. BOS significant interest in Backes.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) July 1, 2016
Details of that last attempt haven’t been revealed, but it’s likely the Blues were wary of committing too many years and too many dollars to a 32-year-old forward who is experiencing a drop in scoring. Production issues aside, Backes was still an extremely valuable piece of the franchise and was a physical forward any team would have been happy to sign. The Blues have placed themselves in a difficult spot with the cap and the idea of paying Backes $6 million when he’s in his mid-30s was too intimidating.
Backes represents an immediate boost for the Bruins. He’s the type of forward who can combine to form a brutal forecheck and he’s outstanding in front of the opposing crease. The 2015-16 playoffs were the best of his career (seven goals and seven assists) and a lot of that was due to his play directly in front of goal.
What’s next for the Blues? The team has shed some extremely big names (Elliott, Backes) and may lose others as free agency ramps up. A new identity is coming to St. Louis, for better or worse.
