Photo credit: Lina Westman

Over the summer, news broke in Sweden that Nicklas Backstrom‘s girlfriend would give birth to the couple’s first child. On Tuesday morning, The Washington Post’s Katie Carrera reported that the couple has welcomed a healthy baby girl, two days after her scheduled delivery date.

Nicklas Backstrom’s girlfriend gave birth to the couple’s first child, a baby girl, early this morning. Understandably he’s not at practice.

— Katie Carrera (@kcarrera) October 8, 2013

While in Sweden during the offseason, the Washington Capitals first-line center called news of the pregnancy “unbelievably fun.”

“Since we decided to have children, this news was the best thing that could happen,” Backstrom said to arbetarbladet.se and translated by friend-of-the-blog Jacob Ware. “It’s an experience that is difficult to describe. But it’s much better than a World Championship gold medal.”

“Many other players have made it work, so it shouldn’t be a problem,” Backstrom added, when asked how he would balance hockey and a kid. “Both my [girlfriend] and I are very active people. We see it as a very fun experience to have children.”

RMNB extends congratulations to the happy couple.