Needs to man up. Either he is a fluke or he is playing
Hurt or without passion. Come on david
You look like the guy who belongs in the ahl

I agree. I wasn't sure why Murray went with him, but perhaps he felt a SO goal could've jump started him. My biggest concern is he's not flying around and hitting people the way he has in the past.
_________________
"The jerk store called, they're running out of you!"

I'll agree to disagree.
_________________
www.bluenotezone.com is now Live

Follow us on Twitter @BlueNoteZone

Backes is looking like the player I thought he was a year ago. A good, physical player that can chip in on just about any line.

I was beyond stunned (and pleased) that he netted 30 goals, and will be equally shocked if he ever gets to 30 again. I'll be happy with consistantly hitting around 17-20, though.

But, still, he blew me away once. Hopefully he can do it again.

He's still in the top 10 in hits, IIRC. So he is still banging around.

Don't know why he isn't scoring, though.
_________________
"But I want people who are committed to wearing (the Blues) sweater ... who consider it an honor to put it on ... who play hard for that uniform ... who protect their teammates. That's the kind of organization I want to have."
-Dave Checketts

luckybaer wrote

Is that right? I would take my original statement back then.

Maybe 30+ goals a season consistently is a lot to ask for, but he still has the skill set to follow a career path similar to Walts.

I was just more surprised Murray went with him on the SO more than anything else.
_________________
"The jerk store called, they're running out of you!"

He was not the right guy in that spot. Kariya/Eller/Berglund. Then Backes.
_________________
Blues Talk Sponsor of Peter Laviolette bringing this team it's 1st Stanley Cup!

believe6 wrote

Backes does not even come close to Walt's skill set IMO. Walt has amazing hands for a big man and was dominant at Backes' age.

believe6 wrote

actually he attributed his slow start last year to focusing too much on hitting people, and not enough on scoring.

i think we are expecting too much from him, as 30 goals is likely already out of reach for this year. despite what the "holiar than thou" posters who know everything will say, you can only cite his history of slow starts for so long. eventually the slow start is going to have to give way to the fact that he is regressing back to his average. right now im hoping for 15-20 goals. for what he does as a player, id be happy with that
_________________
Official Bluestalk sponser of Chris Mason

Anyone else consider possibility that Backes might be an attractive "sell high" candidate if we were looking to make room for Eller? Everyone thinks Winchester is the guy to go, which makes sense as well, but just consider this.

Backes is certainly future captain material, but so are a couple other guys on the team. Was last season an aberration? The Blues decided to move Lee Stempniak because they felt they had a better player long term player in Oshie. Could this be the case again with Eller? Backes may be playing to his average right now, but last's year 30 goal season is still bound to catch serious interest from some other teams.

Just food for that, that's all.

Matt
_________________
Proud sponsor of a Stanley Cup in St. Louis.

Backes has to step it up offensively, no doubt. But he is among the leaders in hits now, so his game is coming around.

It's hard to point fingers at any player right now. The team as a whole just isnt scoring. We could say this about anyone in our top 9 right now, imo.

As far as him hitting 30 goals again, i expect that. he set that bar for himself last season and now needs to live up to it. Same with Boyes, Bergy, Oshie, Walt, Kariya, etc. They've had some great great chances, but just can't buy a goal right now. I don't think this will go on all season and actually expect it to get better quickly. They've got the slow, lazy first 20 minutes fixed, seem to be playing a much better overall game now. We added a few skilled guys in EJ and Kariya and it's taken some time to adjust. But they seem to be finding their hard work/in your face style from last year. The scoring will come from the hard work eventually. There is way to much talent on our top lines to be scoring like this...something has to give!

Backes isn't the type to score pretty goals. One of the main reason Backes and the other forwards are struggling is because the D is not getting the point shots through. Once the shots start making it through the forwards will have a lot more opportunities to score on rebounds and deflections because right now, those chances are almost nonexistant.