Hobnobs
Pinko
- Nov 29, 2011
- 8,950
- 2,299
There are parallels to Alex Delvecchio's career. Now hang on, let me finish. In other words, he was a centre on a team for a long time with a much more famous and better winger. Not to mention both had a lot of years where they finished among the top scorers. You don't think of Delvecchio when you think of this and you don't with Backstrom either. Now, I think Delvecchio was better, and he is in the HHOF, but to compare Backstrom to more of a modern player does he have a chance?
Just looking at the numbers, he has a very good chance. The only problem is does he fall into the category where he is forgotten? Let's face it, the guy is underrated. But if we are looking at boxes to check off, he's in decent shape.
Stanley Cup? Check
Big contributor to that Cup? Check.
Good in the playoffs? Pretty good.
Top 10 points finishes? 4, 4, 6, 8, 9
Led the league in anything? Assists in 2015
Statistical thresholds? Will easily crack over 1,000 points.
PPG status? 0.97 at the moment.
The only thing that might hold him back is whether or not they think he just didn't have the notoriety or that he didn't get the Hart votes. To be fair Ovechkin was the one getting those votes, not him, so that factors in a bit. And someone like Luc Robitaille, who we all agree belongs, never got a single Hart vote in his career.
I guess the last thing is do you hear the words "Hall of Famer" or "great" when you say his name. You don't, but that is probably because of the underrated aspect.
We could compare him to another Red Wings center whos in the hall, Norm Ullman. I think Bäckström is in. I don't really see any reason for him to be out.