There is a possibility that the Boston Bruins start the season with David Backes on injured reserve; is this a win for the team?
Firstly, you’ve got to immediately question whether the Boston Bruins are playing a clever game to circumvent the salary cap or make David Backes a more appealing trade piece.
Equally though, we should look at it at face value and see that a team will only place a player on injured reserve if they’re truly injured.
Heck, look at the Joffrey Lupul situation in Toronto a few years back where the player argued he was fit enough to play and the team had forced him to fail his medical – we don’t think the Boston Bruins organisation are that sort of group as to try to circumvent the rules in such a manner.
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Obviously in that situation, it ended up referred to an independent party to determine the player’s injury status. In doing so, the NHL essentially sent a message that they will assess players if they think teams are playing fast-and-loose with the rules.
In regards to David Backes, reports suggest that he might be suffering post-concussion symptoms which would be a definite reason to shut him down and place him on long-term injured reserve, given the potential life impact. Equally, there’s been hints that whatever has ailed him is operable, suggesting it might not be as bad.
It’s a really tough situation, because the reality for David Backes, based on his performances last season is that he’s going to spend a lot of time either in the press box or featuring in a very limited role on the ice. Do you use that as the perfect reasoning behind getting surgery or taking further time off if you do indeed have historic injuries that need to heal?
If you’re the Boston Bruins, you certainly push the player in that direction, especially when he has a $6 million salary cap hit for the next two seasons.
Moving David Backes to long-term injured reserve suddenly boosts the Boston Bruins cap space to $13 million. You can essentially ink Brandon Carlo and Charlie McAvoy to new deals there and then and likely get a considerable way towards a new deal for Torey Krug in advance of his unrestricted free agency next summer.
Looking beyond that; if any ‘injury’ to David Backes is deemed a career-ending one, he could sit back and collect his $12 million remaining contract dollars without having to risk his body to any future health issues.
Ice hockey players aren’t programmed that way though; had the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup this season past, maybe it’s a different story but reality is, he’s likely going to hope to fight on for the most elusive of prizes, regardless.
Training camp kicks off tomorrow, so I guess we should sit back and simply wait and see. The players will no doubt be expected to pass their pre-season physicals and we shall find out whether David Backes is a pass or fail sooner rather than later.