Backstrom thriving with Brynas in return home to Sweden  

GAVLE, Sweden -- Nicklas Backstrom is living out his childhood dream. Again.

Long before Backstrom imagined playing in the NHL, setting up Alex Ovechkin for all those goals and lifting the Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals, he was a 10-year-old in the stands here at Gavlerinken (renamed Monitor ERP Arena in 2019), wanting to follow in his father's footsteps and wear the black, yellow and red of his hometown team, Brynas IF.

"To put that jersey on, I think it's an honor," Backstrom told NHL.com earlier this month. "There's a lot of history in this club."

Backstrom did it, of course, working his way up through the Tigers' junior program before debuting in the Elitserien (Swedish Elite League) in 2004-05 when he was 16. That led to the Capitals selecting the slick-passing center with the No. 4 pick in the 2006 NHL Draft. He played 1,105 games during 17 seasons with Washington and had 1,033 points, including a team-record 762 assists, and won the 2018 Stanley Cup.

Backstrom's playing days appeared over when he announced he was stepping away from the Capitals on Nov. 1, 2023, because of lingering issues with his left hip, which he had resurfacing surgery on in 2022. The decision to move home after his contract with the Capitals expired provided another chance, however, and he's enjoying writing an unanticipated epilogue to his career where it all started with Brynas (in the renamed Swedish Hockey League).

"I wasn't expecting this if you think about just one year ago," he said. "But I got the opportunity to come back and play and I took it. It's been fun. It's a great league. Obviously, a lot of great players, and the crowd has been awesome. So, it's been pretty cool."

Backstrom had plenty of reasons to make this comeback. Giving his family and friends in Sweden a chance to see him play in person again was among them. He certainly missed playing and, perhaps, proving he could still do it at his age -- he turned 38 on Sunday -- and after all he went through with his hip, was part of it as well.

His motivation was simpler than that, though.

"I would say for the love of the game," Backstrom said. "I think when you're getting up to the last couple years, then you realize as a hockey player that you want to keep doing it. I think everyone is like that. You want to keep doing it as long as possible for the love of the game."

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Not that playing this season is about Backstrom going on some farewell tour. For one thing, he's not sure if it will be only one season.

"We're taking it one year at a time," he said. "We'll see how the season goes."

It's going well so far. After taking some time to shake off the rust from not playing for nearly two years, Backstrom is tied for second in the SHL with 16 assists and tied for third on Brynas with 18 points in 22 SHL games. He also has three assists in four Champions League games.

Retired former Capitals forward Carl Hagelin, who lives is Sweden for most of year while working in player development for the Minnesota Wild, said what Backstrom has been doing in the SHL after such a long layoff isn't as easy as he has made it look.

"I would say it's the hardest league in Europe to play in in terms of how hard everyone checks," Hagelin said. "Everyone can skate. They play good systems. So, it's not a league you go in and just get a point a game easily.

"As a skilled guy, it's easier to get points in the NHL than in the SHL."

Backstrom doesn't say a lot when asked about his health and how his hip is feeling, but it's all positive.

"It's been good. It's been great," he said. "Feeling awesome. Feeling good."

Backstrom acknowledged, "It was a really difficult time" when he stopped playing after getting just one assist in the first eight games of the 2023-24 season. He spent the remainder of his contract with the Capitals, which expired after last season, on long-term injured reserve.

"I think I missed it more than I thought just being around the guys," he said.

Backstrom's time around the Capitals was limited, but he attended a few games and events to help celebrate their 50th anniversary last season and was at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, to watch Ovechkin break Wayne Gretzky's NHL record by scoring his 895th goal against the New York Islanders on April 6.

Backstrom played as big a role in helping Ovechkin break the record as anyone, assisting on 279 of his goals. During his first 14 seasons (2007-21), no player in the NHL had more than his 722 assists.

"He was just unbelievable," said former Capitals forward Marcus Johansson, now with the Wild. "The way he can control the game with the puck and slow the game down, I think one of the best passing players of all time. It's amazing what he could do."

Backstrom said he skated a little while he wasn't playing the past two seasons, not really expecting that he would have the chance to play again.

"I think I was just being realistic there at one point," he said.

Still, his career ending that way didn't sit well with him.

"I think retirement as a young man is a pretty tough one, albeit it, yes, we have these great careers and have been very successful," Capitals defenseman John Carlson said. "But that still doesn't change the human element of a major shift in your life, and kids and family and, for him, a move."

Although Backstrom had pondered returning to Brynas to play after he was done in the NHL earlier in his career, he said that was not a factor when he and his wife Liza decided to move back to Sweden with their three children -- Haley, 12, Vince, 9, and Alizee, 5. He figured that possibility was probably gone anyway.

"Before it ended the way it did in the NHL, I had that in my mind a little bit, but I didn't think it was going to happen because of certain reasons," he said. "But then after laying off for a little bit and how my body felt, the opportunity came up."

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Brynas always felt like home for Backstrom. Monitor ERP Arena/Gavlerinken, which opened in 1967 and cozily seats 7,909 for hockey, is a short bus ride or, for a noticeable number of fans passed along the way, a 15-20-minute walk from downtown Gavle.

For a recent a game against Malmo, there were dozens of fans scattered among the crowd wearing Brynas jerseys with Backstrom's name and familiar No. 19 on the back. Brynas supporter Martin Bergstrom said he purchased his shortly after Backstrom signed.

"He's the best player that returned to the Swedish league in forever," Bergstrom said. "Only (Peter) Forsberg was close, and he only played for a half a season."

In the stands at one end of the rink, a standing group of flag-waving supporters sang and chanted along with a steady drumbeat whenever the puck was in play from the opening face-off to the final horn.

"It's a little different from what you're used to," Backstrom said. "We recently had a game in Stockholm (against Djurgarden at Avicii Arena, which seats about 14,000 for hockey), so that was pretty wild. The fans are great. They're chanting a lot. It's more like a soccer game."

Backstrom is happy his children have been able to experience this. The family spent summers in Sweden, but lived in Virginia, near the Capitals' practice rink, for most of the year. So, though Haley, Vince and Alizee saw him play in Washington, they'd never watched him play in his home country.

He said, "they were as supportive as anyone," with his decision to play for Brynas again.

"They knew it was the end of my career," he said." Same as me, an opportunity came up and they were like, 'Oh, yeah.'"

Liza and the kids live in Stockholm, but they sometimes make the 90-minute drive north to Gavle to watch Backstrom play. He joins them in Stockholm during breaks in the schedule.

"It actually works out pretty well," Backstrom said. "We're off every Sunday, so I go back then."

Although some family members and friends in Sweden traveled to North America to watch him play in the NHL, others hadn't seen him play live in years. Backstrom's Brynas reunion has provided an opportunity for them as well.

"I think he's not only doing this for himself," Hagelin said. "I think he's doing it for his family, all his friends and I think his kids are excited to see him play over here too."

Backstrom never got the chance to see his father play for Brynas. Anders Backstrom played 10 seasons for the Tigers as a defenseman, winning a Swedish championship in 1980, before retiring in 1988, a few months after Nicklas was born. He returned with Ostervala in Sweden's second division in 1991 and played two more seasons before going into coaching and became Brynas general manager in 1999.

Nicklas, who began playing organized hockey when he was 4, would accompany his father to Brynas' games and watch intently with the hope he'd be out there one day.

"Back then, when I was younger, we didn't really have that access to the NHL, so my dream when I grew up was to play for this team," he said. "That's what I had before people started talking about the NHL."

Although Backstrom left Brynas after three seasons to join the Capitals, his link with the team and Gavle remained strong. He'd return each offseason and skate with Brynas' players to prepare for the upcoming NHL season. When he had his day with the Stanley Cup in 2018, he brought it to Gavlerinken so he could share it with the fans and youth players there.

In that way, returning here to play again was a no-brainer.

"I grew up here, and I've been here for a long time," Backstrom's said. "This is what I know."

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Backstrom said his main concern coming back, "was more about that I hadn't played in a year and a half." After having some initial talks with Brynas management during last season, discussions heated up early in the summer.

"I told them, too, I was like, 'Hey, you've got to give me a couple weeks, months to get back on the ice and see how I feel," he said. "After that, I just made a decision."

Brynas announced the signing July 28, and Backstrom joined the team for his first practice later that day. Finding his skating rhythm and feel for the puck again while readjusting to the wider international ice surface (the rink is 100 feet wide compared to 85 in the NHL) took some time.

There were several other former NHL players on Brynas roster to help with the transition, including four he played with in Washington: defensemen Michal Kempny and Christian Djoos and forwards Johan Larsson and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby. In fact, there are as many members of the Capitals 2018 Cup team on Brynas -- Backstrom, Kempny and Djoos -- as on the current Capitals (Ovechkin, Carlson and Tom Wilson).

"That is funny," Backstrom said. "It's good that I knew them from before and I know a lot of other guys too. I would see them every time in the summer."

Kempny, who signed with Brynas for this season after playing three seasons with Sparta Praha in Prague in the Czech Extraliga, was excited when he heard Backstrom was joining him here.

"Obviously, he didn't play hockey for a while, but I think that from the start, he felt the respect," Kempny said. "I remember we talked about it, you know, how he feels from the start, and he just told me, 'Buddy, I just need some reps, and I'll be fine.' So, that's what he did. I feel like he's more comfortable every game he plays."

Backstrom showed flashes of his old brilliance in the game against Malmo while skating on a line with Jakob Silfverberg, a veteran of 820 NHL games with the Ottawa Senators and Anaheim Ducks, and 19-year-old Lucas Pettersson, who was selected by Anaheim in the second round (No. 35) of the 2024 NHL Draft.

Backstrom got an assist in the first period, when Pettersson knocked in his rebound for goal that increased Brynas' lead to 2-0, and set up several other good scoring chances in the second, particularly while working from his usual spot on the right half wall on the power play. Instead of passing back to Carlson at the point for the shot, though, it was defenseman Johannes Kinnvall.

At one point, Backstrom's threaded a pass perfectly through the middle of Malmo's penalty-killing foursome to the spot in the left circle where Ovechkin often waited to unleash his lethal one-timer. Silfverberg shanked his shot wide, though.

"He's a special guy, special player," Kempny said. "Those passes on the power play, those eyes behind his back, they're still there. He sees the game in a different way than other guys."

Backstrom had a few good scoring chances himself, including an open shot from the right circle that he clanked off the crossbar, but couldn't finish against Malmo goalie Oskar Blomgren. Brynas ended up outshooting Malmo 34-16 but gave up four consecutive goals after scoring the first two on its way to 4-3 loss.

"We had a lot of chances," Backstrom said. "That's the way it's been going for us lately, so we need to just grind through it. We've had our ups and downs, and we've just got to keep grinding."

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Brynas (10-12-0, including two overtime wins) has struggled with consistency this season after losing in the SHL final last season. The Tigers’ fans were uneasy before a recent three-game winning streak but didn’t blame Backstrom.

"He's doing what he's supposed to do," Bergstrom said. "It's just everyone else needs to step up. The players look good. It's just not getting the points."

Backstrom's second stint with Brynas has reminded him what it's like playing here, where it feels a little more personal because of his connection with the city. And after years of happily flying in Ovechkin's shadow with Washington, he's squarely in the spotlight.

"It's always different, too, playing where all your friends are from and where you grew up," he said. "I did play here when I was younger, but you always forget when you've been away for that long. It's an unbelievable city with an unbelievable hockey interest in the team.

"You talk to the people around and you talk to your friends, and the city breathes hockey, which can be a good thing and a bad thing."

Backstrom believes Brynas' fortunes will turn eventually.

"Our goal is to, hopefully, make it to the playoffs and go from there," he said. "That's been the No. 1 goal since I signed, getting a chance to win the league. That's the No. 1 priority."

Not on Backstrom's priority list is the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. National team coach Sam Hallam said, "It's a long shot," for Backstrom, or any player outside the NHL, to be selected to Sweden's roster, but acknowledged that he is on management's radar.

"Everybody knows the quality Nick Backstrom has," Hallam said. "But he needs to be fit, and he needs to really find his game. So, we're following him and then we'll see."

Backstrom helped Sweden win the silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the last involving NHL players, but would seem to have some unfinished business there, too. He was excluded from playing in the gold medal game against Canada because of what proved to be a false positive test for a banned substance.

Getting another chance to play on the Olympic stage is not part of Backstrom's comeback plan, though.

"I'm not thinking about it at all," he said. "There's other guys that should be there before me."

Instead, Backstrom will continue to focus on trying to help Brynas climb in the standings while following the Capitals from afar. He keeps in touch with many of his former teammates, talking most with Carlson and Wilson among their current players. He saw the video of Ovechkin scoring his 900th NHL goal on a spin-around backhand against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 5 and thought, "Typical 'Ovi' way to do a milestone."

It's clear he's still heavily invested in the Capitals.

"I know what they're doing," Backstrom said. "Even though I'm not a part of the team, I'm still a diehard Caps fan."

Carlson similarly has been following Backstrom, streaming Brynas' games on his laptop when he has time, usually when the Capitals are on the road. He's glad to see his old friend find a way to, potentially, close out his career on his own terms.

"I have really good friends that have now left the game, and you see it from the other side," said Carlson, who passed Backstrom for second on the Capitals' games played list when he played his 1,106th against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday. "It can't be easy. It's all that we've ever known, really. Especially him here before me in terms of age and stuff, his whole life he was learning to live here.

"So, I think there's a lot of adjustment that goes into the postgame life and I'm so happy for him because he's happy taking on another challenge that he's obviously capable of."