“Our kids, they are like me, they like to go to bed early,” Backlund beamed. “So they don’t come to all our games. They only come to a few of them, so it’s extra special every time they’re here.“When the 34-year-old Backlund steps on the ice Saturday, he will become only the third skater in franchise history to log 900 regular-season appearances in the Flaming C crest. He joins two former teammates, Jarome Iginla and Mark Giordano, on that list.
“I came in here and Darryl and Brent told me, ‘Yeah, you’re going to Abbotsford to learn to play defence,’ ” Backlund recalled with a wide grin. “There was no choice. If I wanted to play in the NHL, there was one way.” “I hadn’t seen his mom since the draft . I had a good visit with her, too,” Sutter said after Friday’s practice. “You know, it goes by fast. And he’s having a hell of a year. Numbers-wise and performance-wise, it might be his best year. It speaks volumes about him.”Dillon Dube, almost a decade younger than Backlund, characterized him as “one of the best professional humans I have been around.”