Nicklas Backstrom

Swedish ice hockey center who played 16 seasons with Washington Capitals, winning Stanley Cup in 2018 and earning reputation as elite playmaker

Nicklas Backstrom was born in Valbo, Sweden in 1987. Washington Capitals selected him fourth overall in the 2006 NHL Draft — the pick immediately after they selected Alexander Ovechkin in 2004. His career has produced 249 goals and 886 assists for 1,135 career points — the most by any Capitals player not named Ovechkin. He won the Stanley Cup with Washington in 2018. He was selected to five All-Star games. He is the primary playmaker who has created the majority of Ovechkin's goal-scoring opportunities for 15 seasons — his assist total reflects an unselfishness and distributional skill that has consistently placed him among the league's finest passers. He retired in 2023 due to a chronic hip condition that required surgery. His career is one of hockey's best examples of a first-line centre whose contributions are systematically undervalued because his linemate is the most dominant individual scorer of his era. Without Backstrom, the question of how many goals Ovechkin would score is genuinely unanswerable.

Backstrom was known as an elite playmaker with exceptional vision and passing ability, consistently setting up teammates for scoring opportunities. He possessed strong hockey IQ and was particularly skilled at finding open players in traffic and creating plays from behind the net. His two-way game included reliable defensive play and face-off proficiency.

Backstrom established himself as one of the NHL's most consistent playmakers of his generation and became a cornerstone of the Washington Capitals franchise for over a decade.

• Stanley Cup (2018)
• Olympic Gold Medal (Sweden 2006 via junior)
• All-Star 5x

Team Career

Team	Period	GP	Goals
Washington Capitals	2007–2023	1058	272
Brynäs IF	2005–2007	—	—
Sweden	—	109	24