Tribute Christian Bäckman

[BlueSeal]

What are you guys memories of him? What did he bring to the ice?

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Now I see why @ChicagoBlues was on butt for posting that last thread, didn't realize it and I spazzed out over it. I'm so sorry, Chicago!!

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Now I see why @ChicagoBlues was on butt for posting that last thread, didn't realize it and I spazzed out over it. I'm so sorry, Chicago!!

Looks like I missed something.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

And? So what? We made a bad draft pick a quarter of a century ago. Why are we talking about him? Should I go to the Pittsburgh board and ask for their memories of Milan Kraft who was selected 1 spot before Bachman?

What is the purpose of this thread? We don't have fond memories of a meh draft pick who had a good season then washed.

Unnecessarily hostile sounding.

Sadly, there aren’t many interesting memories from the most hardcore Blues fans, but I don’t fault someone for being interested in him for whatever context. This seems like the right place to ask, to me.

 

[Eye of Ra]

And? So what? We made a bad draft pick a quarter of a century ago. Why are we talking about him? Should I go to the Pittsburgh board and ask for their memories of Milan Kraft who was selected 1 spot before Bachman?

What is the purpose of this thread? We don't have fond memories of a meh draft pick who had a good season then washed.

i mean no disrespect, just curious. I have a thing for retired swedes.

Oh, Bäckman made Swedens roster for World Cup 2004 and Olympics 2006.

 

[Majorityof1]

Unnecessarily hostile sounding.

Sadly, there aren’t many interesting memories from the most hardcore Blues fans, but I don’t fault someone for being interested in him for whatever context. This seems like the right place to ask, to me.

i mean no disrespect, just curious. I have a thing for retired swedes.

Oh, Bäckman made Swedens roster for World Cup 2004 and Olympics 2006.

You are right, I did come across too harsh. I apologize.

I still just don't understand. The guy only played a couple seasons with more than 50 games for us. He's not the type of player most fans would be nostalgic about. He wasn't great offensively, or a big hitter. He didn't have a long career here or any big successes. He was just a guy, despite being a first round pick.

But if you want to ask, hopefully someone here can provide the type of memories you are looking for.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Ask about Steen or Berglund and you’ll get some action.

 

[TurgPavs]

Larry Pleau had taken over by then and we usually attributed draft success or failure to him. That was Pleau's first draft as GM. Some here may be able to speak to the weight of the scouting staff's input. Pleau and his team had several misses in their early years of drafting, but got much better as we transitioned to Army.

As others here have stated, Backman was big and skated well, so there was some reasonable expectation that he'd be able to hold his own in the NHL.

Matt 'Pylon' Walker (same Blues draft class) played more games than Backman.

Pretty sure Detroit was shocked when the Blues took Backman instead of Fisher in that draft. Ken Holland or on of the Detroit writers pointed out that Backman was a one dimensional defensemen.
Backman was ranked top 5 in European skaters and the Blues absolutely thought he was going to be the next Lidstrom.
The issue wasnt selecting Backman, before the higher rated Scott Gomez or J Cheechoo, it was the fact they used their first 3 selections on defensemen in 97, then their first 4 selections on defensemen in 98. They passed on some really solid forwards in 97-01 in the draft. They had a solid group of forward prospects, however traded nearly everyone of those forwards between 2000-2003.
Just some really crappy scouting and selections from 97-02.
53 total draft selections
10 draft picks played more then 100 games in the NHL
7 players played more then 200 games
3 players played more then 348 games
35 of the 53 players never skated in an NHL Game
6 of the 53 players never skated more then 28 games in the NHL

 

[pseudoswede]

Also mentioned here... Prospect Info: - Otto Stenberg, 25th, 2023

 

[PocketNines]

Backman and Rundblad should be friends, they should hang out

 

[EastVillageBlues]

Backman and Rundblad should be friends, they should hang out

Holy smokes, remembering Rundblad, we lucked out that we eventually ended up with Tank, otherwise that would have been disastrous.

 

[domasher1987]

My fondest memories of Backman are the play calls: "Backes to Jackman, Jackman to Backman, back to Backes!"

 

[Falco Lombardi]

 

[ScratchCatFever]

I'll always remember Backman for being the guy we took 2 or 3 spots of ahead of Scott Gomez in the '98 draft... Respectfully. I don't think New Jersey even thought Gomez would end up being the player he was. But that would have given us Turg, Gomez and Weight down the middle for a number of years.