Former St. Louis Blues captain David Backes retires after 15 NHL seasons

David Backes is retiring after a 15-year NHL career. 

Backes, 37, signed a one-day contract Thursday with the St. Louis Blues, the team he spent 10 seasons with, to retire as a member of the organization. 

Even after he left St. Louis in free agency in 2016 to join the Boston Bruins, all roads pointed back to the city. He and the Bruins lost to the Blues in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. The final game of his NHL career came in St. Louis while wearing an Anaheim Ducks jersey. 

"It was clear to me that I needed to retire as a member of the St. Louis Blues," he wrote in an essay for NHL.com. "That night reiterated that St. Louis was my home. It is where my wife and I grew into adulthood and it was the organization we needed to retire with. The feeling was mutual with the Blues and I am so humbled that this journey has come full circle for me to end this amazing ride with the same organization that called my name at the draft 18 years ago." 

Backes was a second-round pick (62nd overall) in 2003, and he debuted three seasons later. From his first full season (2007-08) to his final year with the Blues (2015-16), Backes played in all but 24 regular-season games and had 437 points (196 goals, 241 assists). 

All things Blues: Latest St. Louis Blues news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

His production declined in Boston, but the Bruins marched to the Final in 2018-19, where they fell to the Blues in seven games. He finished his career with 21 games over two seasons with Anaheim. 

"The game got faster and younger and I haven't been associated with either of those adjectives in a long time," Backes wrote. "My final goal was to play 1,000 games, but I came up 35 short.

"In the end, it's not that all these numbers don't matter – they do, and I am damn proud of them. But the metrics that mean the most to me are the countless experiences and everlasting relationships that the game provided me. That's what I find is beyond measure." 

Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.