Mikael Backlund (born 17 March 1989) is a Swedish professional ice hockey centre currently playing for and serving as an alternate captain for the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League (NHL). 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.\n', '

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.\n', '

Backlund began his junior hockey career with the VIK Västerås HK organization in the J20 SuperElit, Sweden\'s premier junior league. His impressive two-way play earned him the opportunity to play for Västerås\' senior team in the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan as a 16-year-old. In his debut on 2 November 2005, during an away game against Växjö Lakers, Backlund scored a goal in the first period of a 4–0 win and was selected as the player of the game for his team.[citation needed] He tallied four points in his 12 games in HockeyAllsvenskan during the 2005–06 season. That same season, Backlund was dominant in the 2006 TV-pucken, a national under-17 tournament in Sweden played among districts. Leading the tournament in goal- and point-scoring, he was selected as the most valuable player and given the Sven Tumba Award as best forward in the tournament.\n', '

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