Home / Highlights / Nicklas Backstrom becomes 139th player in NHL history to register 500 assists

Nicklas Backstrom becomes 139th player in NHL history to register 500 assists

By Ian Oland

 1 Comment

January 7, 2017 8:38 pm

Saturday night in Ottawa wasn’t two minutes old when Nicklas Backstrom recorded his 500th career assist on TJ Oshie’s opening goal.

Video

Backstrom gave a smart (but pedestrian) pass to Oshie, who got good lift to beat goalie Mike Condon top shelf.

That’s Oshie’s 13th goal this season, but that milestone is nothing compared to Backstrom’s. From November 8, 2007 to today, he has recorded 500 assists, a Washington Capitals franchise record.

Here’s two other replays of the goal.

Alex Ovechkin, understanding the gravity of the moment, gave Backstrom a huge hug and delivered a special message that took approximately 10 seconds to finish. And that makes sense. According to Craig Laughlin, nearly 45% of Backstrom’s 500 assists were on Ovechkin goals.

Backstrom is the 139th player in league history to record 500 assists. Backstrom ranks first among players drafted in 2006 in points. He is the 10th Swede to reach the milestone. Only two active players reached 500 faster than Nick: Crosby and Jagr. In short: he rules.

Congrats, Nicky!

More from the Capitals:

Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom became the first player in Capitals franchise history to record 500 career assists on Saturday, earning an assist on T.J. Oshie’s first period goal against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre. Backstrom has registered 674 points (174 goals, 500 assists) in 691 career NHL games and ranks first in franchise history in assists, fourth in points and 11th in games played.

Backstrom was drafted by Washington in the first round, fourth overall, in the 2006 NHL Draft. He is the first player from the 2006 Draft class to reach the 500-assist plateau and also ranks first among players drafted in 2006 in points. The Gavle, Sweden, native is the 10th Swedish-born player in NHL history to reach 500 assists, joining Nicklas Lidstrom (878), Mats Sundin (785), Henrik Sedin (765), Daniel Alfredsson (713), Borje Salming (637), Peter Forsberg (636), Daniel Sedin (600), Thomas Steen (553) and Henrik Zetterberg (548). Backstrom is the second-fastest Swedish-born player in NHL history to reach the 500-assist plateau (691 GP), trailing Forsberg (551 GP) and the third-fastest player to reach 500 assists among active NHL players, trailing Sidney Crosby (554 GP) and Jaromir Jagr (642 GP). He also ranks second among active players (min. 600 GP) in assists per game (.723).

Since he entered the NHL in 2007-08, Backstrom ranks third in the NHL in assists, trailing Joe Thornton (538) and Henrik Sedin (535), and ranks eighth in points. He also leads the NHL in power-play assists (231) since 2007-08 and ranks second in power-play points (283), trailing Alex Ovechkin (299). In addition, he ranks fourth in multi-assist games since he entered the League (115) and first in three-assist games (32) and four-assist games (9).

Backstrom tallied the third-most assists in a season in Capitals history in 2009-10 (68) and has recorded four of the nine 60-assist seasons in franchise history (2008-09, 2009-10, 2013-14, 2014-15). In addition, he ranks first in Capitals history in 40-assist seasons (8) and 50-assist seasons (6). He also ranks tied for first in the NHL in 40-assist and 50-assist seasons since he entered the League in 2007-08.

Full Coverage of Caps at Senators

Photo: @Capitals

, ,