The biggest hockey story on Monday came in Washington, as it was announced by the Capitals that centre Nicklas Backstrom of Gavle, Sweden will not play in the National Hockey League in 2025-26. Backstrom is returning to his birthplace of Sweden, and will be playing for Byrnas IF of the Swedish Hockey League.
Second time with Byrnas IF
Backstrom actually began his professional hockey career in Sweden. He was part of the Byrnas IF Gavle team from 2004 to 2007. In 110 regular season games in the Swedish Elitserien, Backstrom had 22 goals and 44 assists for 66 points, with 78 penalty minutes, and was a -8. He also had four goals and three assists for seven points in 11 Swedish Elitserien playoff games with eight penalty minutes.
While with Byrnas IF Gavle, Backstrom was selected fourth overall in the 2006 National Hockey League Entry Draft. He was selected only behind defenseman Erik Johnson of Bloomington, Minnesota, who was selected first overall by the St. Louis Blues out of the United States National Under 18 team, centre Jordan Staal of Thunder Bay, Ontario, who was selected second overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins out of the Peterborough Petes hockey program out of the Ontario Hockey League, and centre Jonathan Toews of Winnipeg, Manitoba, who was selected third overall by the Chicago Blackhawks out of the University of North Dakota in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Backstrom’s NHL career
Backstrom had 271 goals and 762 assists for 1033 points in 1105 regular season games with the Capitals from 2007 to 2024. He was a +83 with 504 penalty minutes, 421 power-play points, two shorthanded points, 39 game-winning goals, 2264 shots on goal, 8891 faceoff wins, 649 blocked shots, 770 hits, 758 takeaways, and 613 giveaways.
In 2014-15, Backstrom led the NHL with 60 assists. In 2015-16, Backstrom was a NHL All-Star as he had 20 goals and 50 assists for 70 points. In 2018, he was on the Capitals team that won the Stanley Cup. Backstrom had 23 points in 20 games.
Why did Backstrom not play last season?
Backstrom missed the majority of the 2023-24 season (only played eight games) and all of 2024-25 due to hip surgery. It will be interesting to see if Backstrom will begin the season with Byrnas IF, or if he needs more time to recover.
Will we see Backstrom return to the NHL?
At this point, it seems rather doubtful. Backstrom is 37 years of age, and is near the end of an impressive career. Now a question will be if Backstrom will represent Sweden at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo.
