Nicklas Backstrom’s friendship with William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs is one that has been well-documented over the years. Dating back to father Michael Nylander’s time as a Washington Capital, Backstrom and the young Nylander spent a lot of time challenging each other to ping-pong matches. They lost touch after William’s father was traded to the Rangers, but reconnected when William was drafted to the NHL by the Leafs in 2014.

In more recent history, the two interviewed each other in a totally natural and completely candid Sportsnet feature, which was sweet, if a little awkward. But now they’ve topped with with a new interview.

In video posted by NHL Sweden on Friday, Backstrom was back in the interviewer’s chair as he asked Nylander a series of increasingly ridiculous questions, which have been translated to English by RMNB’s Magnus Cadelin. You really need to experience this in all of its wonderful, trolling glory.

Video

Fixar William Nylander (@wmnylander) att räkna till 30? Kika på svaret i Nicklas Bäckströms (@backstrom19) frågestund 🤡 pic.twitter.com/HZvVgLSvQN

— NHL Sverige (@NHLsv) September 20, 2019

Nicklas Backstrom: “Hi! This is Nicklas Backstrom and beside me is William Nylander and we will have a round of questions. I have some questions for you. It’s a slow morning today and I thought we would start with you holding your breath for 10 seconds. Can you do that?”

[William Nylander holds his breath.]

Nicklas Backstrom: “Well done! That was good! Number two. I want you to think about your best memory from hockey.”

William Nylander: “My best hockey memory…”

Nicklas Backstrom: “No, no I just want you to think about it. Just think about it. Inside your head.”

William Nylander: “Oh. Okay.”

Nicklas Backstrom: “And the third question. I want you to count to 30 for yourself. Inside of you.”

William Nylander: “I’m going to count to 30? Ah. Well. It went pretty quick. Are we done?”

Nicklas Backstrom: “Now I want you to hold this puck. That was our question session with William. The only thing he did was laugh. That’s good!”

We have to wonder what William is going to do to get Backstrom back after this one. We just hope the cameras are rolling when he does!

Backstrom and Nylander have faced off against each other multiple times during the regular season, in the first round of the 2017 playoffs, and at the Stadium Series in 2018. They also played on the same line at the 2017 IIHF World Championship, dominating the competition on the way to winning gold with Team Sweden.

Headline photo: @NHLsv