Capitals: The Ovechkin-Backstrom Duo Deserves More Respect

The one, two punch of Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom has been around for a long time now.

Alex Ovechkin, of course, was drafted in 2004 and Nicklas Backstrom‘s first season was in 2007-08. That’s over ten years that this formidable duo has rocked the red in Washington D.C.

Over those years these guys have created a ton of memories for Washington Capitals fans, they have put up some incredible numbers, changed the record books and yes, have even won a Stanley Cup.

Yet, for some reason, it doesn’t seem this pair gets the credit that some other great duos around the NHL get. I think, when you say, “name me some great NHL duos” there would be two that come to mind quickly, and most likely above the Ovechkin-Backstrom pair.

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The first one I would personally think of is Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews over in Chicago. Give me another crack at naming a duo I think I’d give you Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand up in Boston. Then of course, we’d be foolish if we didn’t mention Crosby and Malkin from Pittsburgh.

If you ask fans and I think a lot of hockey “experts” out there to name the best duos, I think those would be the first they name. If Ovechkin and Backstrom even came up, it would be at least third. People these days might even throw out Matthews and Marner from the Maple Leafs before they name the Capitals pair.

But why? How is the greatest goal scorer (in my book anyways) and one of the greatest passers of his generation overlooked when talking about great duos? The easy answer is championships.

One of my least favorites things about sports is how we let the big shiny trophy handed out to TEAMS at the end of the season dictate how good or great one player, or in this case two players are. If you look at all the duos I mentioned earlier, with the exception of the Matthews-Marner pair, they all won Stanley Cups and did so fairly early in their careers.

It took the Ovechkin-Backstrom pair ten years to win their first Stanley Cup. They are also on a team that is considered underachievers when it comes to playoff time. Again, let me capitalize the one word there. They are on a TEAM that is considered underachievers. Looking at their individual stats and particularly their playoff stats they are up there with the other great duos around the league.

I’m mostly going to focus on Nicklas Backstrom here. If you put all these guys in draft in their prime years Ovechkin is getting picked one or two with Crosby. Backstrom, always being underappreciated, maybe is the guy holding up this pair from being named as the best duo in the league. Through no fault of his own of course. He deserves so much more credit than he gets.

Since the playoffs and championships dictate how much respect we’ll give you lets take a look at some playoff stats. Toews and Kane have won three Cups. There is your argument. Bergeron and Marchand have won one, and been in two other finals.

We’re also taking Crosby and Malkin out of this argument. Both guys have played a lot more playoff games than the other five guys we’ll mention and both are over a point per game in their playoff careers. No one else is over a point per game and all of these teams have missed the playoffs and done so recently.

Based on championships, points scored in the playoffs and overall team success I guess you could easily claim Crosby and Malkin are the number one duo.

Toews on the other hand has played in 128 playoff games and has scored 110 points. His partner in crime Kane has played in 127 games and is up to 123 points. Kane is the best out of the five guys we’re talking about.

For the Bruins, Bergeron has played in 136 playoff games and has scored “only” (I use that term loosely) 103 points. Marchand has played in 108 games and is up to 83 points.

Meanwhile, even with “less success” Backstrom has played in 123 playoff games and has scored 106 points. He’s played in five fewer games than Toews and has just four less points. He’s played thirteen fewer games than Bergeron and has three more points than the Bruins great.

Just to complete this, Ovechkin has played in 128 games and has 126 points. If you include him in this argument, he’s the best. I think we all knew that though.

That glow that shines off championship trophies can really blind people in my opinion. For whatever reason we focus way to much on trying to judge how good players are based on team accomplishments. I think we’ve done the same with duos in the NHL.

Thanks to the Capitals, as a team, underachieving in the playoffs I don’t think the Ovechkin-Backstrom combo gets the credit they deserve. As players they have done just as much when the games matter most as Toews and Kane. But thanks to Toews and Kane playing on some great Chicago Blackhawks teams they get a lot of recognition.

The same can be said of the Bruins with Bergeron and Marchand. Even though they have the same amount of Cup wins. The Bruins have lost in the finals twice, which mean they of course have lost to the champions.

The Capitals and Ovechkin and Backstrom have one Cup and lost to the champion Penguins in back to back years. But because that was in the second round and not the finals does it means less?

Don’t let championships and Stanley Cups fool you. There have been plenty of great athletes in all sports to win just one or not win any championships. That doesn’t make them any less great.

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The same can be said for the best duos in the NHL. While Ovechkin and Backstrom might not be the best, they deserve to be in the conversation a lot more than they are.

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