Nicklas Backstrom returned to professional hockey this summer after his contract with the Washington Capitals expired and his family moved back to his native Sweden. The 37-year-old centerman signed with his boyhood SHL club, Brynäs IF, in July and according to former Caps teammate and neighbor TJ Oshie, he’s loving life back on the ice.
“I was just texting with him last night,” Oshie said in a recent interview with the “Spittin’ Chiclets” podcast. “He said he is having a blast out there. I had two questions like, ‘How’s the body feeling and are you having fun?’ And he said, ‘The body’s feeling great,’ and he’s ‘Having an absolute blast.’ So I’m super happy for him.”
Oshie brought his own family back to Minnesota this summer after retiring from hockey in June due to chronic back pain. The 38-year-old husband and father of four lived just a couple doors down from the Backstroms whose children were close with his own. He understood why Backstrom decided to leave the U.S. but couldn’t help admitting he was a little jealous of his opportunity to keep playing.
“I know they wanted to go back to Sweden and get closer to family and maybe he’ll come on and tell you guys about the decision to play again and stuff. But I’m super happy for him,” Oshie said. “I told him right in the text message, ‘Dude, I miss it so much… I’m happy that you’re out there having fun again snapping it around.'”
Backstrom appears like he never lost a beat despite missing the previous two NHL seasons on LTIR with hip issues. He recorded his first competitive assist during Brynäs’ Champions Hockey League victory over Austrian club KAC Klagenfurt on Thursday after impressing in SHL preseason action.
Oshie said he wasn’t surprised his old pal has still got it, quipping that Backstrom – the Capitals all-time assists leader – won’t want to quit hockey any time soon.
“He’s the most natural passer I’ve ever seen. He’s probably gonna be doing that until he is 60,” Oshie joked. He reminisced on how perfectly Backstrom would pass pucks to scoring areas even they didn’t look technically correct.
“The amount of holes that he would hit when I was on the power play with him and Ovi to go through everyone,” he recalled. “Some guys they sauce you a puck and it’s just a little too high and you’re like, ‘Oh dang. Tough one.’ When he would sauce it and it would be too high, you knew it picked up speed on the way down or something.”
Backstrom assisted on 81 of Oshie’s 192 career goals with the Caps.
“One time he passed it – I’m not kidding – a saucer pass through my legs and then like through the back two defenders for a empty net one timer for Ovi,” he added. “And I was like, ‘How?’ Usually you’d flinch and try to stop it, but I just knew the second it left his stick, he’s trying to do this. He’s amazing.”
