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Efforts to reach both Backes and his agent, Wade Arnott, were unsuccessful Friday, so there’s no telling whether the proud veteran, among the most respected voices and well-liked players in the Bruins room and across the league, would accept the demotion or choose to retire.
Keep in mind, it’s also possible the move to waive Backes will spark trade discussions — including with teams other than the eight he has approved, per his contract language. If there is a trading partner willing to take on his $6 million cap hit through next season, and it’s a deal that Backes would accept, it likely would necessitate the Bruins building value into the deal, such as surrendering a draft pick or prospect as part of the exchange.
The Bruins also could agree to retain a portion of the remaining $6 million — similar to what was required to unload Milan Lucic on the Kings in the summer of 2015.
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Such is the painful cost of doing business around an aging, high-priced veteran, even one with Backes’s solid reputation and unremitting willingness to battle. Even as a graybeard, he remains a 10 in terms of his desire to compete and his instinctual impulse to stick up for teammates.
Nonetheless, his tools have worn down and his long history of concussions — including a handful sustained here in 3½ seasons — have made some, including the Boston coaching staff, wonder whether continuing to play will put his long-term neurological health at risk.
Bruce Cassidy, after initially noting the waiver move was made in the interest of “doing what’s best for the team,” also emphasized during Friday’s media scrum in Brighton that Backes’s history of concussions placed him in an uncomfortable position as a coach.
While noting that he admired Backes’s willingness to scrap, including a flurry of bouts over a short span last season, Cassidy said he also understood the inherent risk of a such a role for someone with a history of concussions.
“That affects your decisions as a coach when you put a human being on the ice,” said Cassidy. “We saw it a little bit last year when David tried to play a little bit of that role and found himself in two or three scraps. I don’t know if that’s the ideal role for him, but good for him to go out and try to carve a way to get back in the lineup.
“But as a coach, and I told some of the players, as a guy you know is a dad, who has two young girls, you always want to be careful that you aren’t pushing a guy to play a certain way — but now you’ve got a guy, who knows, might be one hit from having some damage. So you have to be very careful with that. I know it’s a business, but that is the human side of it.”
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Backes came aboard here in July 2016 after a stellar 10-year run in St. Louis, half of those years as the Blues captain, for a five-year, $30 million UFA deal that far surpassed what the Blues cared to offer. St. Louis management reportedly feared going that far out, with that kind of dollar outlay, for a guy it saw grind night-to-night for a decade.
In short, Blues bosses didn’t like the age/mileage risk, particularly in an NHL already addicted to speed. The Bruins, after losing Loui Eriksson to Vancouver the same day, were willing to assume the risk. The payoff fell far short of expectations.
As today, Backes then was all about intelligence and size (6-3/215) and heart. All good. All admirable. Traits often scarce in NHL 2020. But the game always has been first and foremost about skating, and all the more in the current NHL, in which those even a tick off the pace look as if they showed up at the senior prom expecting to square dance.
Cassidy’s concern for Backes’s neurological health won’t help the latter find work now and won’t aid Bruins general manager Don Sweeney in finding a trade partner.
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That’s not to blame Cassidy. In fact, bravo, he finally verbalized what some in the Boston media (hand up here) have commented on ever since the spring of 2017 when Tampa’s T.J. Miller ended Backes’s postseason with a clean, crushing hit as Backes, head down, tried to advance the puck over the offensive blue line.
In 170 games since that hit, playoffs included, Backes scored 26 goals and put up 64 points over 2½ seasons. His most recent point, an assist, came in a Dec. 5 OT loss to the Blackhawks. His last goal came four nights earlier in a 3-1 win over the Canadiens.
We’ll find out here in short order how the rest of this plays out for Backes and the Bruins. It’s possible that rookie Anton Blidh will be filling his Boston roster spot for Sunday’s matinee in Pittsburgh. It’s also possible, though not probable, that Backes will be wearing Providence’s Spoked-P Saturday night when the WannaB’s play in Bridgeport.
It’s just a business, folks, one constructed around delirious highs and crushing lows. In David Backes’s 13½-season NHL run, Jan. 17, 2020, was pegged toward the latter.
Great guy. Great try. Somber finish.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeKPD.
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January 17, 2020 at 02:57PM
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This could be the end of the line for David Backes - The Boston Globe
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