Ducks veteran David Backes will be in the lineup tonight in St. Louis to take on a Blues team he played 10 seasons with, five as captain. And since Backes has made strong indications he could retire after this season, tonight could likely be his last game in the city.
"I've been back here a few times since leaving town, but knowing it could be the last, there are a lot of memories and a lot of great moments that have happened in this building," Backes said following Anaheim's morning skate at Enterprise Center.
"St. Louis is still looking to clinch a playoff berth, so amidst the festivities and the specialness for me personally, I expect it to be another hard-nosed NHL game going down the stretch with a team trying to make the playoffs, and we're going to try and play the spoilers tonight. There will certainly be some special emotions and some special feelings out there, and I'm going to soak in every moment of it. Every time I touch the ice, I'm going to try and make the most of it and imprint all the memories. There will definitely be some memories floating back in about being on that other bench."
The 37-year-old Backes has played just 14 games for the Ducks this season (scoring three goals) while spending the majority of the campaign on the taxi squad, and he said he's grateful to coach Dallas Eakins, GM Bob Murray and captain Ryan Getzlaf for helping make this happen tonight.
"It's not something that every player gets, a little bit of circling back to where it all started," said Backes, who has 248 goals and 313 assists in 964 career NHL games. "I'm extremely grateful and blessed to have that opportunity. Dallas putting me in the lineup and Murph making a spot on the roster, and I'd be remiss without thanking a guy like Ryan Getzlaf, who goes to bat in these situations, really pulling all the strings he can. [He's] a great leader and a guy I'm proud to have as a teammate."
(There will be more on Backes' media session later today on AnaheimDucks.com.)
Eakins said Backes' presence has been invaluable, despite limited game appearances. "When you're a rebuilding team and you're going through the adversity we've gone through this year, you need some level heads and some guys that have maybe been through it or been through some different circumstances throughout their career, whether it's on the coaching side, the managing side, the player side. With David, he's brought a ton of leadership, a lot of calm. He's done an excellent job with our vets and our young kids. And in all regards from work ethic to attitude to encouragement to the odd kick in the butt, he's covered everything.
"The other thing he has done, when he's been able to get into the lineup, he's played real solid. And it's interesting, we have him in the lineup tonight, but it's not just what he's meant to our organization. It's what he's meant to the St. Louis Blues organization too. And, and when you have a player like that, that is so highly regarded everywhere he goes, you certainly start to understand the man, the human being that he is."
Another veteran the Ducks will have in the lineup tonight is defenseman Cam Fowler, whose status was uncertain after suffering an upper body injury in Monday night's 3-1 loss to St. Louis.
"I think it shows the measure of the man," said Eakins, who had planned to not have Fowler available tonight. "We've got three games here, and he could have easily walked in there today and said, 'It's not worth it. I'm gonna opt out.' But he came in here this morning, and he walked in and said, 'I wanna try it and [after the mornign skate] he let me know he's ready to go. I think that shows what a good teammate he is and a level of toughness as well."
