Nicklas Backstrom
“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of
the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
-- Winston Churchill
If Nicklas Backstrom was never to play another game for the
Washington Capitals, his place in the pantheon of franchise greats would be
secure, and he could be counted among the best centers of his generation. He ranks highly in just about every
meaningful career statistical category:
- Games: 956/4th
- Goals: 243/4th
- Assists: 684/1st
- Points: 927/2nd
- Plus-minus: +119/1st
- Even strength goals: 167/4th
- Even strength points: 551/3rd
- Power play goals: 74/4th
- Power play points: 374/2nd
- Overtime goals: 8/T-2nd
- Game-winning goals: 38/4th
- Credited hits: 704/10th (since 2005-2006)
- Blocked shots: 581/6th (since 2005-2006)
- Times scored first goal of game: 42/4th
Backstrom’s career with the Caps is not over, though. Last January, he signed a five-year/$46
million extension that keeps him in the fold through the 2024-2025 season. By the time that contract is up, he will
likely become one of the few 1,200 games/1,200 points players in NHL history
(there are currently 38 such players, 32 of whom are in the Hockey Hall of
Fame).
Between now and then, Backstrom is in a bit of a nether
world of his career. His best, or at
least his most statistically productive days, are probably behind him. But he remains a creative, industrious player
who slots in either the first or second line center position, who remains
productive (fifth in total points over the last five seasons, seventh in power
play points, 22nd in points per game (of 529 players with minimum:
200 games).
Fearless’ Take…
Nicklas Backstrom remains one of the most consistent players
in the league. Since he entered the
league in 2007-2008, he is one of 15 players to appear in at least 500 games
and average 0.90 points per game (0.97).
He is one of 27 players to play in at least 250 games over the last five
seasons and do so (0.94).
As a first or second line center, he has scoring
responsibilities, and when they are met, the Caps are successful. This season, Washington was 26-10-3 when
Backstrom recorded a point, 9-9-4 when he did not. His personal puck possession numbers were
good, posting a 52.5 shot attempts-for percentage at 5-on-5, his best since
posting a 52.9 percent in 2015-2016.
Backstrom also had consistent output over the course of the
season. Except for his third ten-game
segment, when he lost seven games to injury, he recorded between seven and eleven
points per ten-game segment. And, in no
segment, including that third ten-game segment, did he fail to record a power
play point. One of the stranger points
of consistency was his shots on goal.
Taking away that third ten-game segment, in which he had seven shots in
three games, he recorded between 20 and 24 shots in the five segments before
finishing the season with 14 shots in his last nine games. As it was, his season shots on goal continued
a mid-career trend. His shots on goal
per game have increased in each of the five seasons ,from 1.72 per game in
2015-2016 to 2.16 this season.
Cheerless’ Take…
If you look close enough, you can see the cracks starting to
appear in Nicklas Backstrom’s production.
From 2011-2012 through 2016-2017, Backstrom posted 405 points in 411
games (0.99 per game) and never average less than 0.93 points per game in any
single season. Over the last three
seasons, he has 199 points in 222 games (0.90 per game) and hit 0.93 points per
game once (in 2018-2019; he was under 0.90 points per game in the other two
seasons). And, after four consecutive
20-plus goal seasons, averaging 0.27 goals per game, he posted 12 goals in 61
games this season, 0.20 goals per game.
These are not big drop-offs, and the recent change might be
explained away in part to injury and a changing role in which Backstrom seems
to alternate between first and second line center. But while they’re not big fissures (like that
word, Fearless), it’s like I said…cracks.
Odd Backstrom Fact… There have been 39 players in Capitals
history to take at least one penalty shot.
But Nicklas Backstrom has played in 956 regular season games over 13
seasons and has never taken one.
Odd Backstrom Fact II… The Caps were 6-1-1 in games
Backstrom missed this season.
Odd Backstrom Fact III… 27 points at home, 27 points on the
road this season.
Game to Remember… December 20, 2019. It is a rare thing when two superstars can
share a milestone moment. Rarer still
when that moment is precisely a product of their sharing time in
competition. This was the case in late
December when the Capitals and the New Jersey Devils met in New Jersey to face
the Devils. It was on that night that
Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin played their 900th game together
as Capital teammates. It was a night
when Ovechkin, even in posting a goal and an assist, would yield the spotlight
to Backstrom.
After the Devils opened the scoring on a Kyle Palmieri goal
four minutes into the game, Backstrom collected a bump pass from Tom Wilson in
the neutral zone and skated down the middle of the ice. Backing two defenders into their zone,
Backstrom gained the blue line and fed the puck off to Ovechkin on his
right. Ovechkin took one step up and
wristed a shot from the top of the right wing circle that beat goalie Mackenzie
Blackwood on the blocker side to tie the game.
Just 70 seconds later the Caps had the lead. Tom Wilson outdueled Sami Vatanen for the
puck out of the corner to Blackwood’s right and fed it to John Carlson inside
the offensive blue line. Carlson snapped
a shot at the net, and Backstrom redirected it out of mid-air past Blackwood’s
glove, and it was 2-1, Caps. Blake
Coleman tied the game for the Devils just over four minutes into the second
period, but Backstrom put the Caps in front for good just before the second
intermission. Walking the puck out of
the left wing corner, he found Dmitry Orlov inching down from the blue
line. Orlov passed on the shot and opted
to feed the puck back to Backstrom slicing to the net. Backstrom redirected the shot past Blackwood,
and it was 3-2, Capitals. Backstrom
assisted on a Carlson goal 42 seconds into the third period to compete a
four-point night as the Caps rolled to a 6-3 win. It was the 23rd four-point game of
Backstrom’s career.
Game to Forget… March 4, 2020. Nicklas Backtrom has never had much of a
problem being productive against the Philadelphia Flyers. In 48 career games against the Flyers heading
into their March 4th matchup in Washington, Backstrom was 19-36-55,
plus-12. His 49th career game
against Philadelphia was not one for the scrapbook. He skated just 15:19, his third-lowest ice
time log for the season, managed two shots on goal, did not record a point, had
neither a hit nor a blocked shot, and had a minus-3 rating (tied for his worst
for the season) in a 5-2 Caps loss.
Postseason… Given that the Caps went 2-6 in the postseason
(round robin and first round series against the New York Islanders), it is no
surprise that Nicklas Backstrom did not have a memorable experience. Worse, it was interrupted by injury when he
was blindsided by the Islanders’ Anders Lee after attempting a pass in Game 1
of the first round series against the Isles.
Backstrom returned for Game 5, but it was not enough for the Caps to
stave off elimination. He dressed for
five of the eight postseason games and posted a lone assist, seven shots on
goal, a 38.7 percent faceoff winning percentage (the worst of his postseason
career) and a minus-2 rating.
Looking ahead…
Next season, Backstrom will enter the first year of a
five-year/$46 million contract extension that includes a no-movement clause for
the first three seasons and a modified no-movement clause for the last two
seasons (source: capfriendly.com).
He is one of four players signed through the 2024-2025 season (Evgeny Kuznetsov,
T.J. Oshie, and John Carlson are the others), a number that will likely
increase by one when Alex Ovechkin and the club come to terms on an extension. Kuznetsov, at 27, is the only one of this
quintet currently under the age of 30, so this – including Backstrom – is, and
will be an aging core for whom the window of being an elite Stanley Cup
challenger is closing.
In this space last season, we opined that Backstrom would be
“a player in whom one can have confidence that he will continue to be a
durable, 70-point or more player.” With 54 points in 61 games this season, he produced at a 73-point pace per 82
games. But his goal scoring was down,
largely the product of his shooting percentage falling under 10 percent (9.1)
for the first time since 2013-2014 and his lowest since he posted an 8.9
shooting percentage in 2010-2011. If Backstrom
can restore some of that shooting efficiency, he should be a good bet to
continue being a 70-point player. But
there are those “cracks” to consider.
In the end…
One cannot help but think Nicklas Backstrom is now entering
the end-game of his career. One could
envision the contract about to become active will be his last with the club (he
would be 37 when it expires). But given
the lack of depth at center in the Caps’ organization, he is also likely to be
the first or second line center well into this contract, if not for entire
length of it. The Caps’ chances to
compete for another Stanley Cup will depend in large part on Backstrom’s
ability to maintain the consistency he has displayed over the length of his
career to date.
Grade: B
Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images North America
Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images North America
