Christian Bäckman
Encyclopedia
Christian Bäckman (born 28 April 1980 in Alingsås
) is a Swedish professional ice hockey
defenceman
, currently playing for Frölunda HC
of the Swedish Elitserien
.
, 1st round, 24th overall. It was not until the 2002–03 NHL season that he got a contract for play in the NHL. He only played four games for St. Louis in his first season, spending the rest of the season playing for Worcester Ice Cats in the American Hockey League
(AHL). Between 2003–04 and 2007–08 he was a regular for St. Louis recording 64 points (19 goals, 45 assists), and 130 penalty minutes in 228 games.
Bäckman is a big defenceman, moving confidently with the puck who is often seen successfully dumping it towards the net which gives his teammates in front of the goaltender good scoring chances.
During the 2004–05 NHL lockout Bäckman played for his Swedish youth club Frölunda
in Elitserien
where he totalled 19 points in 50 games, winning the Elitserien playoffs.
St. Louis announced on 10 August 2006 that the club re-signed Bäckman for a multi-year contract, although no contract details was released. According to Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet
the contract gives Bäckman 50 million Swedish kronor
(approx. $7 million) over three years.
On 26 February 2008, Bäckman was traded to the New York Rangers
in exchange for a 4th round draft pick. On 2 March 2008, in his second game as a Ranger, Bäckman scored his first goal as a Ranger on Antero Niittymäki
of the Philadelphia Flyers
, off assists from Brendan Shanahan
and Scott Gomez
.
On 2 July 2008, Bäckman was traded, along with Fedor Tyutin
, to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Nikolai Zherdev
and Dan Fritsche
.
In October 2009, Bäckman signed with Frölunda HC
.
, Sweden.
Alingsås
Alingsås is a locality and the seat of Alingsås Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 22,919 inhabitants in 2005.-Geography:...
) is a Swedish professional ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
defenceman
Defenceman (ice hockey)
Defence in ice hockey is a player position whose primary responsibility is to prevent the opposing team from scoring...
, currently playing for Frölunda HC
Frölunda HC
Frölunda Hockey Club, also known as the Frölunda Indians, are a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They are currently playing in the highest Swedish league, Elitserien, where they have played the majority of the seasons during its existence. The last time they played in the...
of the Swedish Elitserien
Elitserien
Elitserien, is a professional ice hockey league composed of twelve teams in Sweden...
.
Playing career
Bäckman was drafted by St. Louis Blues in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft1998 NHL Entry Draft
The 1998 NHL Entry Draft was held on June 27 at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, New York. A total of 258 players were drafted.- Selections by round :Club teams are located in North America unless otherwise noted.- Round one :- Round two :...
, 1st round, 24th overall. It was not until the 2002–03 NHL season that he got a contract for play in the NHL. He only played four games for St. Louis in his first season, spending the rest of the season playing for Worcester Ice Cats in the American Hockey League
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...
(AHL). Between 2003–04 and 2007–08 he was a regular for St. Louis recording 64 points (19 goals, 45 assists), and 130 penalty minutes in 228 games.
Bäckman is a big defenceman, moving confidently with the puck who is often seen successfully dumping it towards the net which gives his teammates in front of the goaltender good scoring chances.
During the 2004–05 NHL lockout Bäckman played for his Swedish youth club Frölunda
Frölunda HC
Frölunda Hockey Club, also known as the Frölunda Indians, are a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They are currently playing in the highest Swedish league, Elitserien, where they have played the majority of the seasons during its existence. The last time they played in the...
in Elitserien
Elitserien
Elitserien, is a professional ice hockey league composed of twelve teams in Sweden...
where he totalled 19 points in 50 games, winning the Elitserien playoffs.
St. Louis announced on 10 August 2006 that the club re-signed Bäckman for a multi-year contract, although no contract details was released. According to Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet
Aftonbladet
Aftonbladet is a Swedish tabloid founded by Lars Johan Hierta in 1830 during the modernization of Sweden. It is one of the larger daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. Aftonbladet is owned by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and Norwegian media group Schibsted, and its editorial page...
the contract gives Bäckman 50 million Swedish kronor
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
(approx. $7 million) over three years.
On 26 February 2008, Bäckman was traded to the New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
in exchange for a 4th round draft pick. On 2 March 2008, in his second game as a Ranger, Bäckman scored his first goal as a Ranger on Antero Niittymäki
Antero Niittymäki
Antero Pertti Elias Niittymäki is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently a member of the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League. He has previously played for the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning, as well as in the SM-liiga and the American Hockey League...
of the Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
, off assists from Brendan Shanahan
Brendan Shanahan
Brendan Frederick "Shanny" Shanahan is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey winger who currently serves as the National Hockey League's Vice President of Hockey and Business Development and head disciplinarian. Originally drafted by the New Jersey Devils second overall in the 1987 NHL Entry...
and Scott Gomez
Scott Gomez
Scott Carlos Gomez is an American ice hockey center of both Mexican and Colombian descent, currently playing for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League .-Playing career:...
.
On 2 July 2008, Bäckman was traded, along with Fedor Tyutin
Fedor Tyutin
Fedor Anatolievich Tyutin is a Russian professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League ....
, to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Nikolai Zherdev
Nikolai Zherdev
Mykola Olehovych "Nikolay" Zherdev is a Ukrainian-Russian professional ice hockey right winger who currently plays for Atlant Moscow Oblast of the Russian Kontinental Hockey League...
and Dan Fritsche
Dan Fritsche
Dan Fritsche is an American professional ice hockey player currently playing for Genève-Servette HC of the Swiss National League A.-Playing career:...
.
In October 2009, Bäckman signed with Frölunda HC
Frölunda HC
Frölunda Hockey Club, also known as the Frölunda Indians, are a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They are currently playing in the highest Swedish league, Elitserien, where they have played the majority of the seasons during its existence. The last time they played in the...
.
Personal life
Bäckman is married to wife Jeanette and has two children, a boy and a girl. He spends the off-season in GothenburgGothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden.
Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season Season (sports) In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an... |
Team | League | GP | G Goal (ice hockey) In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck completely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to... |
A Assist (ice hockey) In ice hockey, an assist is attributed to up to two players of the scoring team who shot, passed or deflected the puck towards the scoring teammate, or touched it in any other way which enabled the goal, meaning that they were "assisting" in the goal. There can be a maximum of two assists per goal... |
Pts Point (ice hockey) Point in ice hockey has three official meanings:* A point is awarded to a player for each goal scored or assist earned. The total number of goals plus assists equals total points. In some European leagues, a goal counts as two points, and an assist counts as one... |
PIM Penalty (ice hockey) A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,... |
GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1998–99 | Västra Frölunda HC Frölunda HC Frölunda Hockey Club, also known as the Frölunda Indians, are a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They are currently playing in the highest Swedish league, Elitserien, where they have played the majority of the seasons during its existence. The last time they played in the... |
SEL Elitserien Elitserien, is a professional ice hockey league composed of twelve teams in Sweden... |
49 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1999–00 | Västra Frölunda HC | SEL | 27 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2000–01 | Västra Frölunda HC | SEL | 50 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 32 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 2001–02 | Västra Frölunda HC | SEL | 44 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 38 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 2002–03 2002–03 AHL season The 2002–03 AHL season was the 67th season of the American Hockey League. Twenty-eight teams played 80 games each in the schedule. The Hamilton Bulldogs finished first overall in the regular season... |
Worcester IceCats Worcester IceCats The Worcester IceCats were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA at the Worcester Centrum... |
AHL American Hockey League The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League... |
72 | 8 | 19 | 27 | 66 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 2002–03 | St. Louis Blues St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team is named after the famous W. C. Handy song "St. Louis Blues", and plays in the 19,150-seat Scottrade... |
NHL National Hockey League The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States... |
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2003–04 2003–04 AHL season The 2003–04 AHL season was the 68th season of the American Hockey League. The league introduces the Willie Marshall Award in honour the career points leader in the AHL, and awards it to the annual top goal scorer.... |
Worcester IceCats | AHL | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2003–04 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 66 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2004–05 2004–05 Elitserien season The 2004–05 Elitserien season was the 30th season of Elitserien. It started on September 20, 2004, with the regular season ending March 1, 2005. The playoffs of the 81st Swedish Championship ended on April 11, with Frölunda HC taking the championship.... |
Frölunda HC | SEL | 50 | 4 | 15 | 19 | 40 | 14 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 10 | ||
| 2005–06 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 52 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 48 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2006–07 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 61 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 36 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2007–08 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 45 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 30 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2007–08 | New York Rangers New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the... |
NHL | 18 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | ||
| 2008–09 2008–09 NHL season The 2008–09 NHL season was the 92nd season of operation of the National Hockey League . It was the first season since prior to the 2004–05 lockout in which every team played each other at least once during the season, following three seasons where teams only played against two divisions in the... |
Columbus Blue Jackets Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio, United States. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League... |
NHL | 56 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2009–10 2009–10 Elitserien season The 2009–10 Elitserien season was the 35th season of Elitserien. It started on September 21, 2009 and ended on March 13, 2010. The playoffs started on March 18, 2010 and ended on April 24, 2010. HV71 won the playoffs, beating Timrå IK 4–1 in the quarter final series, Skellefteå AIK 4–1 in the semi... |
Frölunda HC | SEL | 47 | 10 | 18 | 28 | 46 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 2010–11 2010–11 Elitserien season - HV71 vs. AIK:- Färjestads BK vs. Brynäs IF:- Skellefteå AIK vs. Linköpings HC:- Luleå HF vs. Djurgårdens IF:*Note: Game 6 was played in the Ericsson Globe.- Färjestads BK vs. AIK:... |
Frölunda HC | SEL | 21 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| SEL totals | 288 | 27 | 64 | 91 | 182 | 43 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 26 | ||||
| NHL totals | 302 | 23 | 56 | 79 | 182 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 16 | ||||
International
| Year | Team | Event | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 1999 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships -Quarterfinals:-Semifinals:-5th place game:-Bronze medal game:-Gold medal game:-Final ranking:-Scoring leaders:-Pool B:Played at Szekesfehervar and Dunaujvaros, Hungary from December 27 to January 3. Two groups of four played round robins, and then the top three played each of the top three teams... |
Sweden Jr. Sweden men's national junior ice hockey team The Swedish men's national under 20 ice hockey team is the national under-20 ice hockey team in Sweden. The team represents Sweden at the International Ice Hockey Federation's World Junior Hockey Championship, held annually every December and January.Sweden's roster for the 1981 World Junior... |
WJC | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 2000 2000 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships -Group B:All times local .-Relegation round:-10-minute tie break game: was relegated to Division I for the 2001 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.-Final round:‡ Shootout victory.All times local .... |
Sweden Jr. | WJC | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 2004 2004 IIHF World Championship The 2004 Men's Ice Hockey Championships were held between April 24 and May 9, 2004 in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic.It was the 68th annual event, and was run by the International Ice Hockey Federation .-Qualification Tournament:... |
Sweden | WC Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation . First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual international tournament. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the European... |
9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 2005 2005 IIHF World Championship - Group B :All times local - Group C :All times local - Group D :All times local -Qualifying round:The top three teams from each group in the First Round advance to the qualifying round... |
Sweden | WC Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation . First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual international tournament. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the European... |
9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 2006 Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Men's tournament The men's tournament in ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics was held in Turin, Italy, from 15 to 26 February. Twelve teams competed, with Sweden winning the gold medal, Finland winning silver, and the Czech Republic winning bronze. It was the third Olympic tournament to feature National Hockey... |
Sweden | OG Ice hockey at the Olympic Games Ice hockey tournaments have been staged at the Olympic Games since 1920. The men's tournament was introduced at the 1920 Summer Olympics and was transferred permanently to the Winter Olympic Games programme in 1924. The women's tournament was first held at the 1998 Winter Olympics... |
8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 2010 2010 IIHF World Championship The 2010 IIHF World Championship was the 74th IIHF World Championship, an annual international ice hockey tournament. It took place between 7 and 23 May 2010 in Germany. The games were played in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, SAP Arena in Mannheim, and one game at Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen... |
Sweden | WC | 9 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 10 |
| Junior int' totals | 59 | 9 | 20 | 29 | 40 | ||
| Senior int' totals | 65 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 50 | ||
Awards
- Silver medal at the 2004 World Championships.
- Olympic gold medal with Sweden in 2006.
- Elitserien champion with Frölunda HCFrölunda HCFrölunda Hockey Club, also known as the Frölunda Indians, are a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They are currently playing in the highest Swedish league, Elitserien, where they have played the majority of the seasons during its existence. The last time they played in the...
in 2005.
External links
- Backman55.se — Official website