Calgary Flames’ Mikael Backlund’s Case for the Non-Olympics

A sad time in every hockey fan’s life: No Olympics. Let’s take a look at Calgary Flames forward Mikael Backlund’s case for making Team Sweden if there was an Olympics.

With an unfortunate ending with the NHL and the IOC not being able to come to an agreement, NHL players will not be allowed to go to the Winter Olympics in 2018. Like we mentioned when we talked about Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau‘s case for making the Olympics, if there were one, it seemed like a lot of people were against this decision, but according to NHL.com, they ran a poll and supposedly, in the United States, 73 percent said they were not in favor. In Canada, it was 53 percent against the break. The NHL has participated in every Winter Olympics since 1998.

Mikael Backlund didn’t make Team Sweden in the 2014 Olympics which was somewhat of a shock to a few people. And head coach at the time, Bob Hartley, definitely felt for him.

Via Calgary Sun:

"I can feel a certain degree of disappointment, which is fully normal. If you don’t want to represent your country, you’re not a very loyal citizen. And to play in the Olympic Games, I think that’s the dream of every kid, of every athlete. So, yes, Mikael is disappointed.At the same time, the way he’s played and his progression gave him a chance and got his name there.[…]Who knows what’s going to happen during the next Olympics. But his progression is going to keep going on. He’s going to be someone that, in Sweden, they’ll be very proud of."

Related Story: Johnny Gaudreau's Case for the Non-Olympics

I also remember at some point, Hartley said something along the lines of “Well Sweden must win since they don’t need Backlund,” but I can’t seem to find that quote anywhere. So maybe I’m just having a Mandela Effect type of moment, but I remember that happening back in 2014.

Just like we did when we talked about Gaudreau’s case for the non-Olympics, let’s look at Backlund’s case. Let’s first look at him on an international stage.

International

Mikael Backlund first started his international play in 2006 when he was a part of Sweden’s U18 World Junior team, and he played with them again in 2007. They won the bronze medal in 07 and Backlund had six goals and seven points in seven games. He also had the most goals in the entire tournament.

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The following two years, he played at the IIHF World Junior Competition (the U20 version now). In 2008, he had three goals and seven points in six games and in 2009, he had five goals and seven points in six games. In 2009, he was named as a top three player on Team Sweden.

Backlund has also played for Team Sweden at the World Championship on four occasions: 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2016. They came in sixth place once, won the bronze medal twice, and won the silver medal once. In those four tournaments, Backlund played in 33 games, had 11 goals, and 18 points. Most recently, he played for Sweden at the World Cup of Hockey last September, but he only played in two games, since he was also surprisingly left off Team Sweden initially. Does Sweden have a grudge against Backlund or something?

Like I mentioned above, Backlund didn’t get invited to the Olympics to represent Team Sweden at Sochi in 2014. Let’s look at some Swedish players, shall we?

Backlund’s Case

In the last two seasons, Mikael Backlund is 11th among all Swedish skaters in points with 100, and only third among centers. He’s also tied in third for goals among Swedish skaters and tied in second among centers. Not only that, but Backlund is also fourth for game-winning goals (11) and first in overtime goals (4). Now, I know that international is slightly different since it isn’t 3-on-3, but something worth noting.

His points are impressive, but he also brings a defensive component to the game. He’s tied in first among Swedish skaters in the last two seasons for short-handed points (7) and just this past season, him and Michael Frolik were a force on the penalty kill. They were the first PK unit and he still didn’t let it affect his +/-, as he remained with +9 throughout the season. Even though the Calgary Flames penalty kill was one of the worst in the league for the first few months last season.

His defensive component was so good that the entire team was calling him “Mikael Selke”. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a nominee, but he did finish fourth among Selke trophy voting (highest among Swedish players).

Backlund and Frolik along with Matthew Tkachuk as the 3M line were one of the best lines last season. And a lot was due to the veteran experience of Backlund and Frolik along with the strive of young Matthew Tkachuk. Not only is Backlund a great player, but he’s an excellent leader.

Next: More Jaromir Jagr to Calgary Talks?

We won’t even know for sure if one of the Calgary Flames best forwards would have made the Olympics or not. But he’s definitely one of the best Swedish centers right now and he’s only been getting better the last few seasons. And it’ll be a hard case to argue why he shouldn’t make the team.