Christian Bäckman Information & Christian Bäckman Links at HealthHaven.com

Medal record
Competitor for Sweden
Men's ice hockey
Olympic
World Championship

Born	April 28, 1980 (age 29),; Alingsås, Sweden
Height; Weight	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m); 210 lb (95 kg; 14 st 0 lb)
Position	Defense
Shoots	Left
SEL team; F. teams	Frölunda HC; New York Rangers; St. Louis Blues; Columbus Blue Jackets
Ntl. team	Sweden
NHL Draft	24th overall, 1998; St. Louis Blues
Pro career	1998 – present

Christian Bäckman (born April 28, 1980) is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman, who is currently playing for Frölunda HC of the Swedish Elitserien.

[edit] Playing career

Bäckman was drafted by St. Louis Blues in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, 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.^[1]

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.^[1]

During the 2004–05 NHL lockout Bäckman played for his Swedish youth club Frölunda HC in Elitserien where he totalled 19 points in 50 games, winning the Elitserien playoffs.^[1]

St. Louis announced on August 10, 2006, that the club re-signed Bäckman for a multi-year contract, although no contract details was released.^[2] According to Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet the contract gives Bäckman 50 million Swedish kronor (approx. $7 million) over three years.^[3]

On February 26, 2008, Bäckman was traded to the New York Rangers in exchange for a 4th round draft pick. On March 2, 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.^[4]

On July 2, 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.

[edit] Personal life

Bäckman is married to wife Jeanette and has two children, a boy and a girl. He spends the off season in Gothenburg, Sweden.

[edit] Career statistics

			Regular season					Playoffs
Season	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1998–99	Västra Frölunda HC	SEL	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	Worcester IceCats	AHL	72	8	19	27	66	3	0	1	1	5
2002–03	St. Louis Blues	NHL	4	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—
2003–04	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	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	NHL	18	2	6	8	20	8	0	0	0	12
2008–09	Columbus Blue Jackets	NHL	56	2	5	7	32	—	—	—	—	—
SEL totals			220	13	33	46	128	36	2	9	11	20
NHL totals			302	23	56	79	182	13	0	2	2	16

[edit] Awards

Silver medal at the 2004 World Championships.
Olympic Gold medal with Sweden in 2006.
Elitserien champion with Frölunda HC in 2005.

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Christian Bäckman". Elite Prospects. http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=290. Retrieved August 11 2006.
^ "Blues Sign Christian Backman To Multi-Year Contract". St. Louis Blues Hockey Club L.L.C. http://www.stlouisblues.com/News/0607/060809.html. Retrieved August 11 2006.
^ (Swedish) "Bäckmans lönehöjning: 10 miljoner per år". Aftonbladet.se. http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/sport/story/0,2789,869592,00.html. Retrieved August 11 2006.
^ "Rangers 5, Flyers 4, SO". 2008-03-02. http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?service=page&page=Recap&gameNumber=990&season=20072008&gameType=2. Retrieved 2008-03-04.

[edit] External links

Backman55.se — Official website
Christian Bäckman's career stats at Eliteprospects.com
Christian Bäckman's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
Christian Bäckman – player profile and career stats at European Hockey.Net

Preceded by Marty Reasoner	St. Louis Blues first round draft pick 1998	Succeeded by Barret Jackman

[EliteProspects-profile-0] "Christian Bäckman". Elite Prospects. http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=290. Retrieved August 11 2006.

[1] "Blues Sign Christian Backman To Multi-Year Contract". St. Louis Blues Hockey Club L.L.C. http://www.stlouisblues.com/News/0607/060809.html. Retrieved August 11 2006.

[2] (Swedish) "Bäckmans lönehöjning: 10 miljoner per år". Aftonbladet.se. http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/sport/story/0,2789,869592,00.html. Retrieved August 11 2006.

[3] "Rangers 5, Flyers 4, SO". 2008-03-02. http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?service=page&page=Recap&gameNumber=990&season=20072008&gameType=2. Retrieved 2008-03-04.

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