Christian Rune Bäckman (born 28 April 1980) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

. He played over 300 games in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) with the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

and

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ...

, and spent the latter part of his career with Frölunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League.

Playing career

Bäckman was drafted by

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 The Worcester IceCats were a US ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Worcester, Massachusetts, at the Worcester Centrum. In 2005 the team was renamed the Peoria Rivermen and moved to Peoria, Illinois. History The IceCa ...

in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(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. 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

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 Pertti Elias Niittymäki (; born June 18, 1980) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey goaltender who last played for TPS of the SM-liiga (Finnish elite league). He additionally played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the P ...

of the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

, off assists from

Brendan Shanahan Brendan Frederick Shanahan (born January 23, 1969) is a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and former player who currently serves as the president and alternate governor for the Toronto Maple Leafs, having previously served as the direct ...

and

Scott Gomez Scott Carlos Gomez (born December 23, 1979) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player. He was the assistant coach for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). Gomez had previously played in the NHL with t ...

. On 2 July 2008, Bäckman was traded, along with Fedor Tyutin, to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Nikolai Zherdev and

Dan Fritsche Daniel J. Fritsche (born July 13, 1985) is a Swiss- American former professional ice hockey forward. He played for Genève-Servette HC, HC Lugano and the ZSC Lions in the National League (NL) and in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Colum ...

. In October 2009, Bäckman signalled the conclusion of his North American career by signing with Frölunda HC.

Personal life

Bäckman was born 1980 in a small town Alingsås. He has two siblings. He grew up in mostly Alingsås but moved to Gothenburg to start his Ice Hockey career. Bäckman is married to wife Jeanette Bäckman. Together they have 3 children. William Bäckman born in 2001, Thea Bäckman born in 2004 and Ellie Bäckman born in 2010. He spends his off-season in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Backman, Christian 1980 births Living people Columbus Blue Jackets players Frölunda HC players Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics National Hockey League first-round draft picks New York Rangers players Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic ice hockey players of Sweden Olympic medalists in ice hockey People from Alingsås Municipality St. Louis Blues draft picks St. Louis Blues players Swedish expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Swedish ice hockey defencemen Worcester IceCats players Sportspeople from Västra Götaland County