Longtime NHL player David Backes signed a one-day contract with the St. Louis Blues earlier Wednesday morning. After this move, he announced his retirement from professional hockey. This was a very kind gesture by the organization to let Backes retire as a member of the club he spent much of his career with.
David Backes retired from the NHL on Wednesday after signing a one-day contract with the Blues.https://t.co/JXbii2xNv9
— NHL.com (@NHLdotcom) September 9, 2021
David Backes Retires From NHL
Backes has spent more than a decade in the NHL, a decade and a half to be exact. In his 15 year career, he spent a whopping 10 of those seasons with the St. Louis Blues. He played 727 games with the organization, scoring 206 times and racking up 254 assists to combine for 460 points. In addition, he also put up an impressive 969 minutes in penalties over that time. He spent four more years with the Boston Bruins and then finished the last two years of his career with the Anaheim Ducks. In total, he played 965 games, scored 248 goals, dished out 313 assists, totalling 561 points. And in his long time with the NHL, he doubled his point totals with his penalty minutes, serving 1,148 minutes in the box of shame.
What’s Next?
With so much NHL experience, it would be no surprise if the hockey community saw David Backes transition to a coaching role with the Blues or any other team. A centerman with that much ice time (nearly 17,000 minutes!) is bound to learn one or two things along the way. He was a very solid two-way center, focusing more on the defensive side of the puck. A physical player, Backes was a threat anywhere he was on the ice.
As the game shifts to speed over strength, centers like Backes are a dying breed. However, when Backes was his most dominant, hard-hitting corner battles and physicality could easily win his team the game. In any event, this classy gesture by the Blues allowed Backes to retire as a member of the team he worked so hard for.
Main Photo:
