Capitals' Backstrom ready to take All-Star stage

The 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Game in Nashville on Jan. 31 is less than a week away. In the lead-up to All-Star Weekend at Bridgestone Arena, NHL.com sat down with a host of this season's participants to talk about playing in the game. In this edition, Nicklas Backstrom of the Washington Capitals discusses playing in his first All-Star Game.

1. What does being an All-Star mean to you personally?

I'm excited. I haven’t been to one of those before. It’s going to be fun. I’m bringing my family, so it’s going to be fun.

2. What is your favorite memory for previous All-Star Games?

The only ones I watched was when I was a kid, when Sweden had players like [Peter] Forsberg, [Mats] Sundin, [Nicklas] Lidstrom, all those guys were in it.

3. Who from your divisional All-Star team would you put on your trio if you were the coach of the team?

Alex Ovechkin and maybe [Claude] Giroux.

4. If you could have dinner with three other players from this year's All-Star Game, who would you pick and why?

Well, there’s a couple of my teammates going, [Braden] Holtby and Ovi [Alex Ovechkin], so probably them and obviously the Swedes there, too. I know them from before, so it’ll be nice to hang out with them.

5. Cowboy boots or cowboy hat as a fashion accessory?

Cowboy boots, I think.

6. Alex Ovechkin passed 500 goals this season. Do you think he can get to 800 before he retires?

Yeah, everything is possible. He’s got a hell of a shot and he’s still only 30, so there’s still a chance.

7. How many goals would Ovechkin have if you weren’t his linemate?

He was here two seasons before me, and he scored 100. So, 100. I'm just kidding. He would probably have the same amount of goals.

8. Who is the hardest goalie to play 3-on-3 against?

I don’t know, that’s a tough one, because we haven’t had 3-on-3s against all of them yet. There’s a lot of good goalies out there. Holtby, obviously we don’t play against him, though, but that’s the thing. We like to have him in our own net but I haven’t played against him so that’s why I couldn’t pick him.

9. If you could pick an All-Star team of all Swedes, who would be on it?

That would be Forsberg, me and Sundin. Does that sound good?

10. What part of the skills competition do you think you’ll be best at?

Hopefully the passing.