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It's a Swede! But a Different One

March 26, 2009, 7:29 PM ET [ Comments]
Tim Panaccio
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Flyers signed a 27-year-old Swedish goalie - Johan Backlund to a contract today. Not Joacim Eriksson as I had been led to believe yesterday. We had the wrong Swede, initially.

“He’ll bring us depth but we’re not sure where he fits in,” said GM Paul Holmgren. “He’s from Sweden. He’s never played in North America before. The game is different here. I’m excited to see him cover and we’ll see where he fits in. He was a good goalie in Europe.”

My take on this is that Backlund could be an inexpensive backup to Marty Biron - assuming the Flyers re-resign Biron. They won't be able to afford to re-sign both Biron and Antero Niittymaki in the off-season.

Backlund has been five years in the Swedish Elite League with Timra and Leksands IF, with a career 2.54 goals against average, .908 save percentage and 19 shutouts in 287 games.

In 49 games with Timra this season, he has a 2.56 goals against average, .907 save percentage and four shutouts.
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