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“Are you saying I bury him in the defensive zone? That I make him take all the D-zone draws?” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan with a chuckle. “It’s no secret the other teams will put out their big lines and he’s our match-up guy. They’ll put their big guys in the offensive zone and when they do, I’ll start Backs in those situations.

“You can look at their numbers. It seems like it doesn’t matter whether we start them in the defensive or offensive zone. They can carry the play. It’s a real benefit for a coach to have a line you can start like that all time.”

And Backlund takes the job seriously.

“After the lock-out, I wanted that role — I wanted to play against the best players,” said Backlund, who was Calgary’s first-round pick (24th overall) in the 2007 NHL draft. “I learned through the lock-out how to do that. Now, I go out with the mindset that I want to be better than the best players on the other teams.

“That’s something I’ve taken pride in working on in the last few years.

Sixty five per cent of Backlund’s five-on-five faceoffs have been in the defensive zone — a number that’s also similar to Frolik’s and Tkachuk’s.

At the beginning of the Flames’ seven-game win streak, the Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik line spent eight straight periods without an offensive zone start.

After Calgary’s 3-2 overtime win against the Detroit Red Wings, Tkachuk commented that Backlund is known as “Mikael Selke” in the dressing room for his defensive abilities.

But to be recognized for his defensive abilities outside the dressing room? If the chatter should become a reality some day and Backlund receives a Selke Trophy nomination in his career?

“I’ve heard it in the room a little bit,” Backlund said with a chuckle. “Obviously, I’m on Twitter so I’ve seen a bit of it on there … it’s awesome. It would be an honour … if things keep going well and we make playoffs, we’ll see. That would be a big honour. But, of course, I take a lot of pride in it.”

kodland@postmedia.com

Twitter/Kristen_Odland