Twelve Days

The dust hadn’t even settled on a disappointing season and yet, behind closed doors, the work toward next year had already begun for Mikael Backlund.

Just 12 days after the final buzzer sounded in Game 82, he was already back in the gym with Flames Head Strength Coach Rick Davis starting his off-season training.

“Mikael Backlund is an absolute warrior,” Davis said. “The aspect of him completing a grueling season, the ups and downs with the travel and the high-density schedule, and then him being dedicated to taking care of his body 12 days after that grueling season really just shows that he’s committed to getting better in all levels on and off the ice.”

“I just feel like the older you get the easier it is to lose things," said Backlund. "I just wanted to stay on top of things so we went on vacation and then I was ready to go."

With more than 900 NHL games under his belt, he has his eyes set firmly on suiting up in plenty more. 

Hence the quick turnaround. 

“I was excited to get back at it,” the veteran explained. "For me – and I heard it from other players who had long careers – the more time you take off the harder it is to get back at it.

“I feel good when I keep my body active and in shape and it’s always nice to get some sort of breather right after the season, when you’re mentally done, you want to take some time to mentally get back at it. I think it was just a personal thing, I just wanted to get back at it.”

It might have been personal, but it certainly didn’t go unnoticed by others.

And the work ethic was contagious.

“Backs asked me when I was coming in, no pressure obviously at all, he was just here by himself,” said Dillon Dube. “Not going to lie, I wanted a little more time off, but when you see a guy like Backs in here in the gym, he’s played however many games in his career and he’s right back to it getting ready to go.

"It just shows the effort he puts into it. He’s still motivated from last year and everything that happened to get back in the gym that quick and try to get back to it.”

Those are the type of leadership habits that his teammates had been glowing about, even before he was officially given the ‘C’ on his jersey.

“He didn’t even know about captaincy back then, that’s just him as a normal person and how dedicated he is to this,” Dube said. “It shows me that’s why he’s been in this league for so long and he’s the captain and has had such a good career and he keeps getting better every single year.

“So, I’m trying to join that path and get better every year. For me to follow him, I’ll learn a lot from that.”

Simply put, Backlund still wanted to be playing. He wasn’t ready for hockey season to be over.

“I had a big discussion with Frida about going to the World Championships,” Backlund said. “I was really excited to play hockey. I feel like there was such a sour taste with how things ended, I just wanted to maybe go have some fun. But with family being over here, it just didn’t feel like it was the right time to do it, because the kids are still so young.”

“Hopefully from now on we’ll have a lot of long seasons. It was a good time to be with the kids a lot, but like I said, I just felt eager to get back at it.”

That eagerness has carried over to now.

Ready to kick off a new campaign on Wednesday night.