Nicklas Backstrom is on the wrong side of thirty, but I guess no one told his hockey that, because he’s still fantastic.
By The Numbers
| 80 | games played |
| 20.0 | time on ice per game |
| 22 | goals |
| 52 | assists |
| 50.7 | 5-on-5 shot-attempt percentage, adjusted |
| 49.1 | 5-on-5 expected goal percentage, adjusted |
| 55.0 | 5-on-5 goal percentage, adjusted |
Visualization by HockeyViz
About this visualization: This series of charts made by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows various metrics for the player over the course of the season. A short description of each chart:
- Most common teammates during 5-on-5
- Ice time per game, split up by game state
- 5-on-5 adjusted shot attempts by the team (black) and opponents (red)
- 5-on-5 adjusted shooting percentage by the team (black) and opponents (red)
- Individual scoring events by the player
- 5-on-5 adjusted offensive (black) and defensive (red) zone starts
Peter’s Take
The party line goes that scoring in the NHL drops off around a player’s age-26 season, but Backstrom just wrapped up his 4th straight 20-goal season and his sixth straight 70-point season. That streak would be even longer if not for the 2012-13 lockout-shortened season, which, yes, I’m still grumpy about.
You could argue that Backstrom was Washington’s best forward in 2018-19. On top of his consistent scoring output, he had a positive impact on his linemates, drawing their on-ice percentages up whenever they were lucky enough to take a shift with Backstrom. HockeyViz’s with-or-without-you graph tells that story whenever the black box is to the top right of its corresponding red box, which is almost always.
(Wow, Orpik. We’ll get to him in a couple weeks.)
Backstrom’s play was distinct this season because he was one of the few top-six players to not have major deficits in on-ice shot quality. He was still slightly under 50 percent in high-danger chances and expected goals, but to a far lesser degree than players like Kuznetsov and Ovechkin, with whom Backstrom played only about half his season. The impact there was apparent.
While Ovechkin brings a certain recklessness (or, more charitably, a certain fun-ness) to his play, playing with Backstrom had kept his play respectably close to even — outside of goals, which are always bonkers for Ovechkin lately. This shouldn’t be a big surprise. Backstrom’s transition play and play without the puck is dramatically better than his nominal competition for 1C, Evgeny Kuznetsov. And that reliability didn’t seem to come at the cost of offensive creativity, which we saw plenty of in a too-short postseason. Those Backstrom rush goals were a compelling reminder that this player is never not dangerous, even as he gets older. Actually, it kind of looks like he’s getting better with age.
Even as the Caps overall retreated from dominating play at five-on-five a few years ago, Backstrom’s individual participation in the team’s offense has increased despite the aging curve‘s portent. That expected drop-off is something Washington is probably watching closely, as they’ve got an important decision to make pretty soon. Backstrom’s $6.7-million contract expires next summer, putting the future hall-of-famer and the team’s best all-around forward on the market at age 32 and a half unless the Caps extend him first. That is a fearsome proposition — do you overpay a legendary and still excellent player for his waning years, or do you risk playing against him in another jersey and getting lit up to hell for your arrogance?
There are folks who want to see Backstrom retire as a Capital no matter the cost, and I’m not convinced their position is entirely sentimental.
Nicky on RMNB
- Sorry to do this to you, but we’re starting with Backstrom’s cup day, where he cried. I promise the rest of this will be milestones and hugs.
- Milestone: Backstrom started the season with 799 points. About a minute into the first game, he notched 800.
- Just gonna share Brennin’s headline: Nicklas Backstrom wishes happy birthday to a Swedish company that makes beds with horsehair. K.
- Milestone: In October, Backstrom became the 87th NHL player with 600 career assists. The Caps did a tribute about it. At the ceremony, Backstrom told Ted Leonsis, “Ted, you gotta stop giving me gifts. I got the one gift I need.”
- There’s gonna a bunch of sweet plays here — too many to embed, but here is one one boss one to Oshie.
- Nicky’s kids are very cute. A couple weeks after the photo above, Nick gave them pucks after a pregame warmup.
- Backstrom and Ovechkin did play together much in the first month of the season but were reunited in mid November.
- Here’s Backstrom burning Philipp Grubauer for an OTGWG
- Milestone: At thanksgiving, Backstrom hopped to second place all-time in franchise history for points.
- In December, Backstrom recorded his first hat trick since 2014, but he needed a little help from Ovechkin to complete it.
- Whatever the equivalent of meet-cute is for long-term committed couples. This is some sitcom-tier stuff right here.
- Backstrom had a big game against the Rangers in February, prompting this “we’re not worthy” reaction from Ovechkin.
- Ovi and Backstrom were name-dropped on Billions. This was so surreal.
- Milestone: Backstrom recorded his sixth straight 50-assist season. Pretty much everyone who has ever done that is in the hall of fame.
- At the tail end of March, Backstrom joined the 20-goal club.
- And the playoffs, where you could argue Backstrom was the Caps’ most valuable player. He scored back-to-back goals in Game One, and opened up scoring for the Caps in Games Two and Five.
- Ovechkin earned a ton of Backstrom’s assists that series: “Right now, Backy is a scoring machine. I’m Backstrom.”
- On breakdown day, which is such a great name, because get ready for this, Backstrom was asked about remaining in Washington after his current contract expires next summer. Backstrom said of the Capitals, “It’s all I know.“
Your Turn
If you’re GMBM, do you extend Nicklas Backstrom? Do you do it now or next season? How long and how much?
Read more: Japers Rink
