David Backes is Bruins’ nominee for Masterton Trophy
WINNIPEG – There’s a price to be paid for all NHL awards and no one can question David Backes’ bonafides as the Boston nominee for this season’s Masterton Trophy.
Sidelined by a deep gash to his right thigh on March 17, the veteran Bruins’ winger earlier this season also required colon surgery to clear up complications from a nasty case of diverticulitis. The season, his 12th in the NHL, hasn’t been an outright nightmare, but it has been a test of his physical and psychological resolve.
The Masterton Trophy is presented to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey. Bill Masterton, who was born here in Winnipeg and played at the University of Denver, remains the only NHLer to die from injuries suffered in a game, while playing for the Minnesota North Stars as a 29-year-old rookie in 1968-69.
“You take the situation in front of you,’’ said the 33-year-old Backes, his nomination announced on Tuesday morning, “and I believe that it is a lot of 20 percent of what happens to you and 80 percent of how you respond to it. I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by good doctors, good people, family, support, people praying for me to get better … and be a member of a team that’s doing good things this year.’’
This year’s winner, selected from the 31 nominees chosen by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association in each NHL city, will be presented the trophy on June 21 in Las Vegas at the annual NHL awards ceremony.
“I hate to spill the beans, but I think this is the most I’ve missed games-wise in a season,’’ said Backes, never previously nominated the Masterton. “Hopefully this is the anomaly, and moving forward we’ll get back to the previous norm. I think it’s one of those things that you don’t necessarily strive to be part of, but given situations and circumstances at times, it shows a lot, character-wise, that you’re able to get through some hardship and get back to doing what we love to do, and that’s playing the game.’’
His injuries, along with a recent career-first suspension (three games) for a hit on Detroit’s Frans Nielsen, caused Backes to miss 24 of the Bruins’ 74 games prior to their stop here Tuesday night to face the Jets.
Prior to this season, said Backes, his longest stay on the sidelines was a 12-game absence for a knee injury early in his career, during his 10-year tour with the Blues.
In his most recent setback, Backes tangled with Tampa forward Yanni Gourde as the two converged in front of the Tampa net. One of Gourde’s skate blades ripped into Backes’ right leg, above the knee, sending the Bruins winger skating frantically back to the Boston bench as blood seeped through his white stocking.
“You’re like, ‘Uh, why the heck am I getting cut like this, and I don’t know how long I’m going to be out, but …,’’’ said Backes, recalling his immediate thoughts that night in Tampa. “Thankfully I wasn’t squirting blood 10 feet in the air and it being a major artery and then who knows how long you’re out if that is the case. So you fall on the sword in one regard, but in the other you kind of dodge a little bit of a bullet in that it’s not worse.’’
The Masterton, first presented to Claude Provost, has been awarded four times to a member of the Bruins – Charlie Simmer (’86), Gord Kluzak (’90), Cam Neely (’94) and Phil Kessel (’07). Kessel has developed into one off the game’s premier goal scorers after overcoming testicular cancer as a 19-year-old Bruins rookie.
If there has been a lesson, in all this, noted Backes, it has been one of perspective and appreciation.
“Again, being able to have kind of psychological reset of how much I do love the game,’’ he mused, “as much as it can be a grind, stressful, and you put pressure on yourself to produce points, or do more, of why is this happening at this happening at this time. At the end of it you just want to be with your teammates and be out on the ice, and the group of guys we have is a character group like none I’ve been a part of where guys genuinely care about each other.’’
