Nicklas Backstrom is willing to help a friend in need, but he won’t do it for free.
Monday, after the Capitals’ first session of training camp, the Capitals’ star center talked to reporters and revealed that he offered his services as an agent to help Alex Ovechkin negotiate his new contract with the Capitals.
Ovechkin ultimately declined and will represent himself, which is unfortunate because we’re deprived of Backstrom’s Wikipedia page having this passage in the future: Not only was Backstrom Ovechkin’s best setup man on the ice, but he also delivered pen to paper on Ovechkin’s final deal, a five-year, $69 million contract, off of it.
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“I told him last year, I’ll take half a percent if he wants me to negotiate,” Backstrom said jokingly, “but he said, ‘No, no, I’ll do it myself.’”
Then Backy turned serious: “I don’t have any advice for him… He’s going to do a good job, I think.”
Backstrom would know. The Swedish center negotiated the five-year, $46 million contract that he signed in January 2020 by himself.
Backstrom got rave reviews from general manager Brian MacLellan and team president Dick Patrick for how he represented himself. The management duo described the negotiations as “smooth” and that both parties “came out with a deal that everyone was happy with.”
GM Brian MacLellan on Nicklas Backstrom the agent: "I found him very well prepared. What he did not know, he went back and learned and came back with solid answers. Overall, the process went smooth and he did a good job negotiating for himself."
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) January 14, 2020
A joking Brian MacLellan believes Nicklas Backstrom can negotiate deals for other players: "I think there might be a few guys using him (in the future)." [laughs]
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) January 14, 2020
Dick Patrick on NB19's deal: "It was a constant grind, I would call it, to the end. Mac was complaining that Nick was grinding him. I'm sure Nick was complaining that Mac was grinding him. But we came out with a deal that everyone was happy with."
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) January 14, 2020
And while Backstrom’s offer to Ovechkin was kind, the benefit remains clear. Ovechkin will keep 100 percent of the new contract, not 99.5 percent.
Nicklas Backstrom on how much he'll pay his agent, Nicklas Backstrom: "100 percent."
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) January 14, 2020
While Backstrom will be sidelined from advising his longtime running mate, he will likely play an important role cheerleading and pestering from afar, just like Ovi did for him.
“Ovi came up to me every day… and asked me, ‘How’s it going? Any progress? Any progress?’” Backstrom said last year. “It’s been like that every day.” They then hugged when the deal was official.
Let’s hope the two Stanley Cup champions have one more hug in them in the coming weeks or months.
