David Backes is ready to leave last season behind him and prove he belongs on the ice.
The Boston Bruins winger was a healthy scratch for the first time in his career last year. That became a trend once Boston reached the playoffs and watched the final three games of the Stanley Cup Final against the St. Louis Blues, his former team, from above the ice.
There was plenty of speculation over the offseason about whether Backes would remain with the Bruins come the 2019-20 season. There never was any certainty to those rumors, but during the offseason Backes put some serious work in, dropped some weight and began working with skating coach Kate McDonough.
The 35-year-old indicated last season “lit a fire” under him, and he looked good in the Black and Gold’s season-opening win over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night. He logged three shots on goal and a hit in 10:45 ice time.
So, what made him change the way he’s approached the game for 13 years?
“Not playing the last three games in the finals certainly doesn’t make you feel real secure that you’ve got a job,” Backes told The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa. “That being said, I think it provided me with some initiative and some extra fuel of being in the league for 13 years and saying, ‘It’s time to adapt further and try to change my game to acclimate to the way of the new NHL’s speed.’
“I put the work in. You’re seeing some of the results,” he added. “Probably a circle of seeing more results, wanting to put more work in, type of scenario. This is early. It’s a couple steps. But it’s steps in the right direction. I like where we’re at at the moment.”
While a lot can happen between now and the end of the season, Backes certainly seems committed to keeping up with the speed of the game and doing what he has to do in order to be productive.
The Bruins play their second game of the new season Saturday night against the Arizona Coyotes. Puck drop from Gila River Arena is set for 9 p.m. ET.
