Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Mikael Backlund was born March 17, 1989 in Västerås, Sweden. He is a centre in the National Hockey League.

Backlund was a first round selection, 24th overall, of the Flames in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, and made his NHL debut in 2008–09. He played junior hockey for VIK Västerås HK in the J20 SuperElit and the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League (WHL). He was a member of Kelowna's WHL championship team in 2009. Internationally, Backlund has represented Sweden on several occasions—he was a member of two silver medal-winning teams at the World Junior Championship, and has won a bronze, silver and gold medals with the Swedes at the World Championship. On 20 June 2015, Backlund signed a three-year, $10.725 million contract extension with Calgary and on 16 February 2018, Backlund signed a six-year contract extension with the Flames.