NHL Trade Rumors: Boston Bruins exploring David Backes trade
Could the Boston Bruins be ready to move on from David Backes? The latest NHL trade rumors suggest they are.
The Boston Bruins have a number of young players. After floundering in the second round to the Tampa Bay Lightning, they’d like to make some changes to their roster. Perhaps by installing more of their young players and pursuing upgrades in free agency. However, with just under $13 million of cap space, they’d probably like to get some more. They could achieve this by trading David Backes, who has seen his name floated around in recent NHL trade rumors.
Backes entered last season with a larger role, but ended up being surpassed by various young players, including Jake DeBrusk. Though his 33 points in 57 games were certainly respectable, he saw his playing time cut noticeably. After averaging 17:07 of ice time per game in 2016-17, Backes averaged a shade over 15 minutes per game in 2017-18.
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That’s the second straight season he has seen a decrease in his playing time. And, at 34 years old, Backes is on the wrong side of 30. In the postseason, he was ineffective with just three points in 12 games. Backes saw his playing time cut even further in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as he averaged just over 13 minutes per game.
Another layer of this rumor is the salary cap implications. Backes’ deal has three years left on it. This offseason, the Bruins need to either re-sign Rick Nash, Riley Nash, Nick Holden, Tim Schaller, and Anton Khudobin or find replacements for them. They also must deal with restricted free agents Sean Kuraly and Matt Grzelcyk.
Also, the Bruins have various contracts to negotiate after the 2018-19 season. This includes Charlie McAvoy, Danton Heinen, Ryan Donato, Noel Acciari, and Brandon Carlo. Eventually, Backes’ deal might start costing the Bruins players because they can’t afford them.
The best time for the Bruins to trade him is right now when he still has some value. Due to Backes’ age, they would still probably have to sweeten the pot a little bit with a prospect or two. But the Bruins have plenty of those. Someone like Zach Senyshyn, who is immensely talented but slowly drifting down the organization’s depth chart, would make sense.
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Backes is still a useful player, but it’s fair to question how much longer this will remain the case. Players like him typically do not age well. Even if the Bruins have to retain a little bit of salary to make it work, getting rid of Backes now is something Boston should be open to doing. His no-movement clause could make things complicated, though.
Be sure to check out all the latest NHL trade rumors on our Rumors page!