What happened to Mikael Backlund? Flames deal with major injury blow to captain

On Friday, the Calgary Flames announced that the team's captain, Mikael Backlund, will be out week-to-week due to an upper-body injury. The injury reportedly occurred during the Flames game against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.

“We're going to miss him out there, but it's going to be one of those things where you have to fill the hole by committee and guys got to step up in some roles that maybe they haven't been put in throughout the year," Calgary Flames forward Blake Coleman said, via NHL.

The Flames defenseman has 11 goals and 13 assists for 24 points this season. Since his NHL debut with Calgary in 2009, Backlund has scored 211 goals and provided 344 assists in 1,054 games.

In the first period of the game against Vancouver, Backlund seemed to be in some discomfort after delivering a hit on Canucks defenseman Victor Mancini. He left the ice for the rest of the game.

The Canucks edged Wednesday’s game against the Flames 4–3 after a shootout. The two teams are tied on points for the last Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.

The Flames were leading 3–2 going into the third period before a snap shot from Canucks center Elias Pettersson tied the game. Vancouver forward Conor Garland scored the shootout winner in the fourth round to seal the win.

"Huge for our group," Pettersson said, via NHL. "Just battled. Everybody did. And the effort. To be able to come back is good.

Hopefully we can build on this. Both teams know we're going at each other. We're tied in points. They have one game in hand. It's going to be tight all the way to the last game."

Calgary Flames will sorely miss Mikael Backlund

On Friday, Mikael Backlund will miss his first NHL game of the season for the Flames. He was one of the franchise's most effective two-ways players. Coach Ryan Huska said he expects other veteran players to fill the gap.

"I use [Backlund] in situations against top players all the time, so I haven't really had to second-guess who's going out there against a MacKinnon for a defensive-zone faceoff," Huska said, via NHL. "It's been Mikael. Other than that, I think the work that he's done is help bring along some other people in regards to the leadership and what we look for out of our players."

The Flames have recalled forward Dryden Hunt to take Backlund’s place in the roster for their game against a high-flying Colorado Avalanche on Friday.