Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney announced on Friday, Jan. 17 that David Backes has been placed on waivers for purpose of assignment to the Providence Bruins of the AHL.
Backes has been a healthy scratch for the better part of the season and has recorded just one goal and three points in 16 games with the Bruins this season, and is playing a career low 8:33 per night.
"At the end of the day, you do what's best for them." said Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy on Friday.
"It's his job to go out there, whatever minutes he gets, and play to the best of his abilities." Cassidy told NESN last week. “If he doesn't then we put someone else in. We dress our best lineup, if he's part of those 12 and outworks (the others) when we have the 14 healthy forwards then he goes in, if not he sits and watches until he's better than the next guy. We have certain guys that are going to always be in there because of their penalty kill contributions, but at the end of the day there's room for two or three guys who aren't on either unit to outplay one another. … They've got to separate themselves, that's what we're looking for.”
Backes is currently on the last year of a five-year contract that carries a cap hit of $6 million.
This will be the second AHL stint of Backes' career, from 2005-2007 he played with the Peoria Rivermen. The Rivermen were the St. Louis Blues' farm team from 2005-2013. The Vancouver Canucks bought the Rivermen in 2013 and relocated them to Utica, New York, where they became Vancouver's current AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets. In 33 career AHL games, Backes has 15 goals and 23 points.
Backes was selected 62nd overall by the St. Louis Blues in 2003. That's where he spent the majority of his career before signing with the Bruins in 2016. In 944 NHL games he registered 245 goals, 554 points, and 1138 penalty minutes. He was an NHL All-Star in 2011 and was a finalist for the Frank J. Selke Trophy in 2012.
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