Last week, Calgary Flames forward Mikael Backlund hit a milestone when he played his 700th career NHL game. Since joining the organization at the 2007 NHL Draft, Backlund has become one of the Flames’ most prominent drafting and development success stories.
Now one of the longest-tenured players in franchise history, let’s ponder: should the Flames retire Mikael Backlund’s number 11 when he ends his playing days?
Backlund made his NHL debut back on Jan. 8, 2009 against the New York Islanders. (He had been in Ottawa representing Sweden at the World Juniors, capturing silver. The Flames decided to bring him to the Western Hockey League, as it was judged that he’d get more playing time with the Kelowna Rockets than with Vasteras of the secondary Swedish league.