Cassidy admitted that he believes Backes to be a good fit playing alongside Sean Kuraly and Noel Acciari, a spot he succeeded in for a handful of games earlier this season. But with Kuraly, Acciari, and Chris Wagner playing strong hockey of late, it has been hard to find Backes a home.
"When you look at the lineup…well, [Patrice Bergeron's] line is one of the best in hockey. You've got Noel's line that's really come a long way and has been an important factor in us winning games, especially in the last little while," said Backes, who has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in 38 games this season.
"The kids [Danton Heinen, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, and Ryan Donato] seem to have found something together. And then I was trying to fit with Krech and JD and it wasn't phenomenal by any means and they're gonna try Peter there.
"You start doing some simple math, and a bag skate and a little bit of a reset was in the cards and here we are."
Having said that, Cassidy did not rule out the possibility of Backes getting right back into the lineup against his former team when the Blues visit to TD Garden on Thursday night. Cassidy also said defenseman John Moore, who has been a healthy scratch for the last two games, could play against St. Louis.
"If this means I sit tonight and I'm fresh against my old squad tomorrow, then maybe we'll find a silver lining there and we can be a big contributor tomorrow night," said Backes. "Tonight I'll be watching from the press box with a couple other good players here. When you've got three good players in the press box, I think that's a good sign for your team's depth.
"We can take it a couple ways, and I'm working to take it the right way and make it a reset and a shake up to let's get going here."