Christian Rune Bäckman (born 28 April 1980) is a Swedish former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

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

. He played over 300 games in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(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 (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. Th ...

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

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. The Blue Jackets compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern C ...

, and spent the latter part of his career with

Frölunda HC Frölunda Hockey Club, previously known as the Frölunda Indians, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They currently play in the highest Swedish league, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), formerly the Elitserien, where th ...

of the

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (SHL; ) is a professional ice hockey league in Sweden and the highest level of the ice hockey in Sweden, Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, and while Li ...

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 The 2002–03 NHL season was the 86th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup winners were the New Jersey Devils, who won the best of seven series 4–3 against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. League business Entry draft ...

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 The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

(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 The 2004–05 NHL lockout was a labor lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the National Hockey League (NHL) season, which would have been its 88th season of play. The main dispute was the league's desire to implement a salary cap to ...

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 were released. According to Swedish newspaper

Aftonbladet (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish language, Swedish daily tabloid newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lar ...

the contract gave Bäckman 50 million

Swedish kronor The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; currency sign, sign: kr; ISO 4217, code: SEK) is the currency of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use for the krona; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usual ...

(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 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 (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...

, off assists from Brendan Shanahan and Scott Gomez. On 2 July 2008, Bäckman was traded, along with Fedor Tyutin, to the Columbus Blue Jackets for

Nikolai Zherdev Mykola Olehovych "Nikolai" Zherdev (; born November 5, 1984) is a Ukrainians in Russia, Ukrainian-Russian professional ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), right winger who is currently playing for the Alleghe Hockey of the Italian Hockey League. He ...

and Dan Fritsche. In October 2009, Bäckman signalled the conclusion of his North American career by signing with

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 people from Västra Götaland County Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics NHL first-round draft picks New York Rangers players Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic ice hockey players for 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 21st-century Swedish sportsmen Worcester IceCats players