Reflecting on Nicklas Backstrom’s first 1,000 games with the Washington Capitals

Nicklas Backstrom is pretty much the beating heartbeat of the Washington Capitals.

On Thursday, April 15, before an empty Capital One Arena, Nicklas Backstrom played his 1,000th game for the Washington Capitals, becoming the 69th player to reach the milestone for a single franchise.

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From puck drop onward, it was a wholly forgettable game from the Capitals, who appeared somewhere between apathetic and lethargic in a 5-2 loss to the lowly Buffalo Sabres.  An assist for Anthony Mantha off a delayed Sabres’ penalty excepting, the night did not showcase Backstrom—who took two minor penalties—at his imperious best.

However, Backstrom provided a pregame silver lining for Caps’ fans in the form of the rare opportunity to celebrate his service to the organization.  Backstrom has spent his whole career playing alongside the rare NHL player who actually shows interest in being a superstar, and, as a consequence, he hasn’t generated the headlines you might expect for a player of his caliber.

That vaunted running mate is of course Alexander Ovechkin, whose rockstar presence has kept Backstrom away from the spotlight throughout his time in D.C. (something I suspect Backstrom himself does not mind in the slightest).

At the most basic of levels, Ovechkin’s overwhelming physical ability and legendary goalscoring would of course outshine Backstrom’s understated elegance and technically brilliant passing.

At thirty-three-years-old, Backstrom is making good on the first year of a hefty five-year extension.  He leads the Capitals in assists (34) and points (48), despite spending much of the season on a different line from Ovechkin.

To zoom out beyond this season, Backstrom’s career illuminates the peculiar nature of a term we are keen to apply to our favorite athletes—underrated.  For many years now, Backstrom’s name has been among the most oft-cited in various NHL player polls soliciting the league’s most underrated players.  To some, these frequent nominations suggest that Backstrom cannot be underrated; the logic being that someone who is regularly described as such is earning national recognition and thus sufficiently rated.

Of course, from this paradox the question begs: is universal acknowledgment that he is underrated sufficient recognition for Backstrom’s career? In glancing over his Hockey Reference page, it is impossible to feel that the accolades live up to Backstrom’s production.

Among hardcore hockey fans, there is no disputing that he is one of the best playmakers of his generation.  However, Backstrom has been named to just one All-Star Game (in 2016), and the closest he ever came to a major individual award was finishing as runner up to Patrick Kane for the 2007-08 Calder Trophy.

Since then, the Swedish pivot has finished in the top ten for a major award just twice, both coming in the Caps’ Presidents’ Trophy-winning 2017-18 campaign when he finished ninth in Hart voting and seventh for the Selke.

When you compare these figures to Backstrom’s output over 1,000 games, something just doesn’t add up.  Backstrom is third among active players in career assists (718), trailing only Joe Thornton and Sidney Crosby.  He recently eclipsed his countryman Daniel Alfredsson to jump into the top 50 all-time in assists, and this year he also placed himself into the NHL’s all-time top 100 in terms of points.

Nicklas Backstrom’s First 1,000 Games in Washington have been nothing short of virtuosic

The simple fact is that Backstrom has been blessed and cursed to spend the entirety of his career in the shadow of the NHL’s greatest ever goalscorer.  Blessed to have spent his playing days with the perfect on-ice complement, but cursed to never enjoy the prestige that accompanies being a franchise’s singular talisman.

To borrow a hackneyed metaphor, Ovechkin was the ideal Batman to Backstrom’s Robin, yet that comparison fails to encapsulate all that Backstrom has meant to the Washington Capitals.

If Ovechkin’s arrival in Washington signaled that the future would be bright, Backstrom’s meant that the rebuild was over.  In the three seasons prior to his arrival, the Caps finished dead last in the Southeast Division.  In his rookie year, the club won the division and returned to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Capitals have missed out on the postseason just once in Backstrom’s fourteen years with the team.  That run includes ten division titles, three Presidents’ Trophies, and, of course, one hard-earned Stanley Cup.

At the core of that run of dominance is a simple connection—an incisive Backstrom cross-ice pass hammered by Ovechkin past a penalty kill and goaltender that knew precisely what was coming yet was powerless to stop it.  There is no better example of this play, which Caps’ fans have seen so many times by now, than Ovechkin’s power play marker in the second period of their Cup-clinching victory.

The formula is all there: Backstrom, patient along the half wall before detecting his moment to strike and delivering a delectable saucer pass over two Golden Knights’ sticks for Ovechkin to power past (or perhaps through) Marc-Andre Fleury. 2-1 Capitals.  A period and a half later, Ovechkin passed the sport’s top prize to Backstrom; two players who spent the entirety of their careers hearing that they were unable to win silencing all doubters.

Backstrom’s pass feels all the more resonant in that context; how many players offer such an inch-perfect exhibition of what makes them exceptional in the precise game in which they cement their status among the sport’s elite?

I’m not certain whether Backstrom is a Hall-of-Famer.  The lack of individual awards hurts his case, yet, for a player whose legacy is defined by the recognition he deserved but never seemed to receive, that may not be an obstacle. If Backstrom surpasses 1,000 points (which he is almost certain to do by the end of next season barring something catastrophic), his case will be difficult to ignore.

And yet, perhaps it would be better, more fitting if Backstrom were not welcomed into the Hall.  After all, Backstrom’s never been one to fuel himself on extrinsic accolades.  Maybe there is no need to begin doing so once his career is over.  At the end of the day, anyone who watched him play would never doubt his prowess.

So when Backstrom does hang up his skates for good, that may well prove his legacy: an elite complementary player, the perfect running mate for his tight-checking era’s most dominant goalscorer.  Even if his connection to Ovechkin proves so close that the Hall of Fame committee deems him unworthy of receiving their honors, I have no doubt that Backstrom will still reminisce upon his career free from regret.  And anyone who watches his highlights will be dazzled by his patience and precision with the puck on his stick.  Whether or not Nicklas Backtrom’s is a Hall-of-Fame career, it has been without a doubt a magnificent one.