2009-10 Rink Wrap: Nicklas Backstrom

I gave him a 9. I think he can do better ;-).

Gave him an 8 because I expected him to be great, and he was better than great.

I meant to give him a 9 but clicked 10 by accident (I’m still asleep). 9 Because he was almost the best I could have imagined him being. I expected him to reach somewhere around 90-100 points but never thought he would top 30 goals this season.

I’d like to see him improve on faceoffs, but that’s about all I can ask for. Otherwise, I’m being greedy.

I gave him a 10. Not only did he demolish my expectations for the year, I see even more upside as it seems like he is still gaining confidence in his abilities to beat defenders one on one and create his own shots.

I gave Alzner a 5 and thought it might be too high. I gave Backstrom a 9 and thought it might be too low. I didn’t think he was a superduperstar coming into the season, and now I do.

I expected 20-25 goals, 80 points or so. Backstrom exceeded my expectations and earned a 9. To get a 10 next season, Backstrom needs to lead the league in points, or finish top 3 in points but score 40 goals.

I gave him a 9, because I expected him to be better than last year, but adding 50% to his goal production was pretty shocking. Add that to his playoff performance prior to the shoulder dislocation, and yeah… its a 9.

Now if only he’d sign for $6M a year….

I’m between 8 and 9, leaning 9. Frankly, he blew me away this year, and I can only imagine him having had a better season if he’d done some more PKing, won more draws and single-handedly willed the team into Round 2 (and perhaps beyond). But that’s getting a bit nit-picky.

I gave him an eight. 9 or 10 would’ve involved an award of some kind. As for next year, exceeding expectations would be pretty hard, as I would expect 100 point seasons regularly now.

I expected 90-100 points, 25-30 goals. He exceeded those expectations slightly.

8

For a 10 next year: Art Ross, 40 goals, Conn Smythe, bumping his FO% to around 53 or higher and maintaining his solid defensive play.

love this guy. love his consistency. love that he showed up in the playoffs. love his attitude on and off the ice. i wish i could add more to the discussion, but backstrom continues to exceed my expectations and set new bars for himself. i gave him a 9, which would have been my highest score this season if it weren’t for a certain american hero.

I gave him an 8. I was expecting him to have this kind of season eventually, but not this soon.

Gave him an 8. could easily have been a 9 but i dont want him to get a big head about it nor do i want the high score to be used to suck more money out of ted’s pocket (cause you know he and his agent will read this). i’d say his faceoff percentage was the biggest negative this year, and if i recall he may have had a run there where his f/o percentage dipped below 40%…i could be wrong on that. the pp failure in the playoffs was another negative as well, which he shares with the other first unit pp guys. overall, not bad for a guy who doesnt have an “nhl body”.

i’d say i had some pretty high expectations from him and he didnt dissapoint in the least. therefore in my eyes it would have been hard for him to earn a 10 unless he was a hart finalist. i must say his t shirt on breakup day almost caused me to move my vote to a 9.

Gave him an 8. He greatly exceeded expectations, but there’s more for him to accomplish. The Swede is phenomenal. $7mill a year is my guess. Hope we can sign him for many years.

I voted 10. In no way did I expect Backstrom to:

a) break 100 points.
b) break 30 goals.
c) become a solid penalty killer
d) finish 4th in league scoring.

d) is definitely the key stat for me. Yeah, I kind of expected top 10, maybe, but I certainly didn’t expect him to finish with point totals that were well north of players like Joe Thornton, Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise, or Pavel Datsyuk. For some reason, I actually thought last year would be right around his peak performance. I figured he might break 90 points, but it would come from two or three more goals – not eight or nine more. Oh, and his first career hat trick: I don’t think I ever expected that.

For him to earn a 10 next year, he’d have to win the Art Ross trophy and edge out Alex Ovechkin for a Hart nomination.

I gave him a 9, but I think now I’m leaning closer towards on 8. I don’t blame him for getting injured in the playoffs, but it still reflected in his performance.

For next season, he’d get a 5 if he essentially duplicated this season with a better FO%. To get a 10, he’d have to get 40+ goals, 115+ points, even better defensive play, a FO% over 52, and then dominate in the playoffs.

Was torn between 9 and 10. He was just much better than I expected…not just in point production (I expected 20-ish goals and 85ish pts) but especially his ability to protect the puck and control play in the offensive zone. Defensively he was very strong. Faceoffs he could still afford to improve on a bit, but he was still solid in that regard.

How much, per year, is Backstrom worth? What would you like to see Backstrom improve on in 2010-11? What will it take for him to earn a 10 rating next year?

To earn a 10 next year, he’s probably gonna have to put up league-leading point totals and 40ish goals…which is really not that big a jump from this year. I think he is probably worth 8+ mil, but I think we can realistically sign him for closer to 7. The biggest thing he needs to improve on next year is faceoffs.

i remember being a little jealous of both kane and toews at one point during their shared rookie seasons. no longer. give me nicky in a re-draft every time.

9. I had high expectations, but he demolished them. 101 points is a hell of a feat these days, his goal scoring went through the roof, and his overall play is really turning into something special-he managed to play with this wonderful combination of calm and snarl this season.

he would have gotten a 10 had he cracked 50% on FOs this season.

He’s an absolute joy to watch; we’re incredibly lucky.

Ouch on the shoulder. I had my shoulder scoped a few years ago, the doctor tried to dislocate it on purpose as he said having easy dislocations was often associated with my type of injury (luckily I was spared).

I’m sure he has the best care available and hopefully for his sake this doesn’t recur.

not a 10 because he is not playing hockey right now and the playoffs are not over.

Will he have a better year in his career??? Probably, well hopefully, but this year’s performance following a great previous year is more than I expected but I feel it was a year short of his full potential. We all knew he was good but did we put him in the discussion as a top 5-10 player in the NHL before this season? Next year to get the 10 we are discussing whether or not he is a in the top 1-5 players in the league thus he vying for the Hart.

His worth is hard to say I think, I would be estactic with a 8-10 year deal at a 7 million cap hit per year.

Had to give him the Bradley. I figured his floor would be 60-65 points. Now his floor looks more like 75-80 points. He’s improved on the faceoff, put some decent minutes in on the PK and has shown remarkable defensive prowess. The fact that he shoots now is just icing on the cake. It feels a bit homer-ish voting a 10, but at the same time he’s wildly exceeded any expectations for me.

I never would have thought it to be fair to compare him to Crosby before this year but right now it almost feels like I will compare Crosby to Backstrom one day.

He played above my expectations, improved in the goal scoring, was magic on the PP during the regular season and was a force all year long. He needs to improve on his faceoffs.
To get a 10 he needs to win the cup. to get a 9 he needed to gget his team out of the first round. Plain and simple.
I’d pay him top dollar and lock him up. He was a home run and you don’t get that very often at all. There are only a few guys in the NHl that can do what he does, and he’s only 22.

Gave him a 10 because he had the best year I could have imagined him having this year. He was better in every single category than I expected him to be be, but where I thought he really raised his game was big game takeover moments / key goals.

Off the top of my head: GWPPG at MSG vs Rangers in come from behind win. GWG Chicago OT with OVIE tossed. GWG against Detroit at home. Playoff hatrick with team down by 3. Who knows how many assists to set up GWG, plus shot blocking animal on a 5 v 3 without his stick (cant remember the team).

Plus…. the dude is down to earth and ego-less therefore perfect to play with Ovie for a long time…

I had high expectations, but they were in the 90 pts range. So that bumps him up from the 5-6 range. I also didn’t expect him to score as much as he did, which bumps him up another. I guess I could have given him a 9, but his faceoffs prevented that if you ask me. So he gets an 8 from me.

I rated Backstrom a 9. The only stat that did not exceed my expectations was his faceoff percentage, particularly at even strength as his PP faceoff percentage is right where it should be. I would like to see his total percentage over 50% for the ’10-’11 season. Also, his faceoffs slipped in the post season, even on the power play where he was relied upon heavily. I want our top PP center to be dominating the dot so the PP can set up after a faceoff. The entire power play unit was dysfunctional against the Habs, but a portion of the blame has to fall on Backstrom. That is pretty much the only thing that prevented me from scoring him a 10.

Backstrom has now has set a ridiculous benchmark for himself, so it is difficult to quantify exactly how he can improve in order to get a 10 next season. He would have to maintain or improve his current offensive production and improve his faceoffs. He would have to have a high scoring postseason and net some power play goals as well. Perhaps he could improve his defensive game, though he is no slouch there either. Maybe a Selke nomination? I don’t know; I am reaching at this point.

I’d love for Backstrom to take a hometown discount of lets say $6.5M x 8yrs. I think $6.5M is a bargain now, in 3 yrs it will be a steal. But something tells me we are looking at a low $7.0M number at 5 or 6 years. But I have no idea. Honestly if we sign him before July 1 and its for multiple years, I’ll be happy, even at $7.5M per.

I give him a 9, and I would give him a 9 year 63 million dollar contract

He got a 10 for me. I was expecting him to regress in terms of goal-scoring, certainly not score 30.

I also wasn’t expecting him to make the quantum leap in assertiveness that caused him to increase his SOG by over 25% from last year. More than anything, that was the biggest improvement in his game.

To me, this was the year Nicky’s confidence began to match his talent. And from here, the sky’s the limit.

Now he’s set the bar pretty high. For him to hit a 10 next year, it’ll take a Cup or a Hart. A Selke or Ross would get him a 9.

Heh. Our first “1” troll has shown up. Welcome!

and the average rating so far is..

beep boop bop bup boop beep

9.167

Whoever gave him a one must be steamin mad about the whole “migrane issue.”

Didn’t expect him to be top-5 in scoring, also didn’t expect the goal explosion.

I think, on the open market, Backstrom is worth $7-7.5m. I hope he stays for between $6.5 and $7m.

I think he needs to work on his faceoffs for next year – that . . . and. . . um. . . his playoff beard? (#needsmoreforsberg)

Seriously, he needs to maintain his goal-scoring pace (which I doubt he’ll do) and improve his faceoffs, particularly his offensive-zone faceoffs on the PP. Start winning more of those and our (regular season) PP becomes even more lethal.

Mike Wilbon probably gave him a one, thinking points in hockey are equivalent to points in hockey. “How can he be a starting player when he averages slightly over a point per game?! He should be averaging 20 at least! Go 76ers!”

I gave Nick a 7, although now I have click remorse and wish I had gone with 8, or even a 9.

Coming into the season, I was expecting him to slightly better his totals from the last season, 22/66/88. Maybe a couple more assists, maybe three more goals, so 25/68/93. He beat that handily in the goal scoring department – that alone is worth an above expectations grade. He was right about where I thought he would be assist-wise, so that keeps me from going over the moon.

My expectations were for a top-five center coming into this year – I expected the two in Pittsburgh, Datsyuk, Thornton and Getzlaf to have better seasons. What I got was a top-three center – only Sedin and Crosby had better results this season. Great chemistry with Ovechkin and Knuble, great job on the powerplay, shooting a very high percentage, this was a very, very good year.

I could have imagined Nick getting 30-odd goals and 75 assists this season, playing with the PP we have. I didn’t quite get that, but I think it’s possible in the future. He’s got a few more seasons to crack the 110 point mark (to do it, I think he’s basically an assist-per-game player who gets ~30 goals) and I think he will…once.

I know that there was some derision about Corsi with-and-without-you, but I think the concept is interesting – who is dependent on whom for results? I’d love Nick to sign for under 7, but I think 7-7.5 is most likely for a guy with his numbers, even if he was playing with Ovechkin. Much more in-depth discussion on this coming in a future fanpost.

To earn a 10 next season, Nick needs to break 110 points, or win the Conn Smythe. He’s got to improve his faceoffs and he’s got to improve his Fenwick/Corsi numbers to Ovechkin levels. He’ll have to challenge Crosby for the title of “Best Center in the NHL”. That’s the best season I can imagine the guy having, in my wildest dreams.

JP, I don’t know if it’s just my computer, but the poll says “How do you rate Eric Belanger’s 2009-10 season (as a Capital)?”

Next to the “1” vote, can we add GO FLYERS!

Going between 8 and 9 I decided on the latter. Backs is the team’s MVP this year in my eyes. Exceeded my expectations in adding a goal-scoring touch to his wonderful playmaking skills, helping carry the team when Ovie was out (see Chicago game), showing a maturity beyond his years, and fine-tuning is defensive skills. He is my favourite player on the team and along with Pavel Datsyuk probably my favourite player to watch league wide.

What I hope for next year: improvement in the FO %, less wonky shoulders, less migraines, and more Selke.

http://www.sportscity.com/nhl/2010-nhl-unrestricted-free-agents-by-position/

wow…all I have to say is, SAKU SAKU SAKU

We need that number 2 C behind nicky here!

8 from me.
Next year Nicky is going to start to have to play like Sid the Child, to get a 10.

Because he outperformed my (already towering) expectations in the regs—I had no inkling he would eclipse 30 goals, for example, or that he would draw nearly 50% in the dot. So I gave him a ten.

I’d be very comfortable at 7 years and 50M…imo, worth it, even if it means missing out on Pat Marleau. Nick’s in the best pivot conversation (after Pavel and Sid) in the league. At 22.

Stay healthy, my friend.

Nick gets the Full Bradley (Love that as a way to describe the ranking…) I had some high expectations, but I wasn’t thinking a 100 point season, 33 goals, top 5 in scoring, leading the league in points on the road, effective PK, getting his face off percentage above average, and (the big finish) increasing his points-per-game average in the playoffs from what it was in the regular season (admittedly a small sample, but it still is a sign of a quality player.)

The clincher would be the game in Chicago. With the team down 3-0 and without Ovechkin, Nick put the team on his back and said “follow me”. And when he made a mistake in the OT, he took the puck back and went end-to-end to score the game winner.

Next year to get a 10… do it again in the regular season, and do it for four playoff rounds.

4th in scoring and more than 30 goals was significantly above my expectations. Failing to get out of the first round, due in large part to the PK, keeps it from being a 10.

I just have one comment…pay the man.

He had basically the season I though he would have in terms of assists but I never though the goal scoring would be that thigh.

For the record, the highest score ever in a Rink Wrap is Ovechkin’s 9.55 from 2007-08. AO’s 9.01 from last season and Huet’s 9.04 from 2007-08 are the only others to finish above 9.00. By my math, Nick’s currently at 9.19.

My expectations for Backstrom coming into this season were (I thought) a bit too high, but he blew past them. I gave him a 9 only because there are areas for improvement (like upping his FO%) and because he seems capable of further growth. He’s not going to get a full 10 until he’s absolutely maxed out his potential. The very idea that the Caps can have a player on roster with a season like Backstrom’s who has the potential for an even fuller game is fantastic — he’s worth every dollar of the millions he’ll be making. (High sixes to low sevens is my estimate.)

I gave him a 7. I am basically going to knock 3 points off each players regular season rating for what they did in the playoffs. Of course I may knock 4 off of Flash, Semin and Green for their disappearing act.

All in all, Backstrom was a beast this year. He’s become an amazing two way center, producing value on both the offensive and defensive ends. He’s a stalwart on the PK, he had 30+ goals, he had 100+ points. I mean, this was a huge jump for him in pretty much every aspect of the game. Anyone expecthing this kind of season from him going in had wildly high expectations.

Why is he not a 10? Well, I think he can still be better. But at this point, its just splitting hairs. I have a hard time giving anyone what would amount to a “perfect score.”

To get a 10 next year? Well, a bump up in scoring wouldn’t hurt. Improvement on the dot would help a lot too. It will probably be hard for Backs to get a 10 next year…because our expectations for him will now be pretty high already. Not that he cannot surpass those expectations…he is still young, still learning, and has a hell of a supporting cast around him.

On the salary question, I think he’s probably in line for 7-8 million a year, and he’d be worth every penny. If the Caps can get him resigned somewhere in the 6 mil area, well, I’d say that would be just phenomenal.

I understand why there are a lot more votes for 9’s and 10’s, but in truth I was expecting 90+ points from him this year but the fact he topped 100 means to me he’s up at an 8 range. I could have gone with a 9 for almost matching Crosby’s point production during the year but there are still some things he can keep getting better at like his faceoff %.

For Nicky to earn a 10 next year I’d like to see him help lead this team to the SCF. I’d like to see him improve that faceoff % which can only help increase the puck possession for the top line. I also would want to see him reign in Ovie some and look to balance out Ovie trying to do everything himself as much. Nicky did a good job of taking more opportunities for himself this year and I only expect that to improve next year. 35-40 goals is not out of reach for him at all. 70+ assists to go along with it would be pretty much the roof I would expect on his ceiling…just slightly higher in each than this year.
 
As for how much he is worth…that’s a tough one. It depends on length of the contract. I’d love to get him for a cap hit of $7 mil a year or under. I think he’s worth every penny of that…and truthfully at this point I’d be happy with anything less than Ovie money. He keeps getting better, has never missed a game, and is a legit top 5 center in a league.

If you had told me in October that Backstrom would play in all 82 games and finish with 68 assists, I would have been pretty happy. But I thought his ceiling was in the 80-85 helper range. Also, he basically had the same point totals on the PP as last year, which is about what I expected for this year. Those two things are pretty much the only reasons I didn’t give him a 10.

Everything else about his game improved dramatically. His chemistry and comfort level with Ovie resulted in more shots, a better shooting percentage, and more goals. He keeps improving his board play, which helps when squeezing pucks to the crease for Knuble to feast on. He really stepped up on the PK, highlighted by the now-famous 4-on-3 against the Bolts. He carried this team during Ovie’s short absences, and to criticize him for the team’s playoff failures isn’t fair, he was basically the same performer in those seven games as we was during the regular season. BB even gave him an “A” when Poti had to miss game seven, which I think points to him becoming a leader in the locker room. Keep up the good work, and I won’t care if my girlfriend, sister, mother, future wife and/or daughter(s) love to wear his hockey jersey.

That said, the bar is even higher now. I think 40/80/120, fewer PIMs, more PK time and a better FO% would qualify for a 10 next season.

I probably should’ve given him a 9, but too late for that. Nicky was an absolute beast this season. I’ve always had high expectations from him, but wow. What a great player we’ve got in him. He definitely exceeded my expectations.

His year was the very definition of a 10. A perfect season for a guy his age, with his potential, draft position etc.. He was awesome.

As a guy who has run or analyzed a bhzillion consumer, employee etc surveys over the years, I’m (still) amused (bemused?) that people refuse to use the whole scale. The result is that when results are aggregated they are almost always in the form of “top 2 boxes” or “bottom 3 boxes” b/c no matter how many choices you give people, they tend to constrain themselves to a relatively small band. Looking at Nick’s vs. Karl’s scores makes that point nicely.

Off the chart expectations and playoffs nix a ten.

that sentence will repeat, losing in the first round makes it hard to give a ten to anyone

Too sweet.

Honestly, as a Pens fan, I thought Backstrom was phenomenal this season. Him and Ovie together remind me of Sid and Geno. Definitely got some firepower in the old tank.

8

Everything pertinent has been said, just posting for record of what I voted…

10 next year: >55% faceoffs, ~10% increase in scoring numbers, increased PK TOI w/o increase in GAON/60 @ 4v5, consistent or improved GAON/60 @5v5

5 next year: ~10% drop-off in numbers across the board

To get a 10 from me next season -
   30-75-105, 15+PPG, <40 PIM, 51%+ on the dot, continue to lead the team in takeaways, top 2 in takeaway/giveaway ratio for WAS forwards.

To get a 5 he’d have to post the same stats as this year — he’s improving, every year for the next 3-4 should get better and each year should constitute a new baseline for the following year.

He’s right there with what I had last year, a notch below on the non-scoring marks — 9.

Next year, a 5 is a little regression to the mean, 28-62-90, 50 PIM, 49.5% FO;
a 10 would be 35-75-110, <40 PIM, 51% FO, Selke nomination-type defense

-d

I rated Backstrom a 9. I had high expectations and I feel Backstrom over-performed. Lots of goals, lots of assists, slight up tick in faceoff , and becoming an elite playmaker. Not much more you can ask from him. For a 10? A Ross trophy, 40 goals, 80 assists, ~55 FO%. That’s a tall order but my expectations for Backstrom next season will be high.

A 10 because – just because…