Washington Capitals: History of Nicklas Backstrom should not be overlooked
Nicklas Backstrom has had a history of being overlooked.
Nicklas Backstrom has been one of the most prominent playmakers in the NHL since entering the league in 2007. Unlike other players to come into the league during this time Backstrom has been consistently overlooked for award considerations and especially All-Star selections. There have been multiple times during Backstrom’s career where he has been obviously overlooked as one of the best in the NHL.
Washington Capitals fans are the last people you need to tell about Nicklas Backstrom and how underrated he is. If you look at this from the perspective of hockey fans he is overshadowed by one of the greatest goal scorers in NHL history. Alex Ovechkin has claimed multiple times that his career wouldn’t be the same without Backstrom by his side and that goes both ways. With that special bond, they have formed has come with Backstrom taking a backseat to the Ovi show.
In the 2017-18 NHLPA Player Poll Backstrom was voted the most underrated player in the NHL. Of 385 votes by the players, Backstrom was selected as number one by 8.57% of them. Coming out on top over players such as Jaden Schwartz, Nikita Kucherov, and Aleksander Barkov.
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Backstrom has had over 70 point seasons eight different times in his career. Three of those times he has gone over 80 points and in 2009-10 he achieved the 100 point milestone with 101 points. Not one of these times was Backstrom was selected for the All-Star Game.
Backstrom has only had one All-Star appearance in 2016, but there have been other seasons where he was deserving. Backstrom has eclipsed 60 assists five different times in his career. In 2009-10, 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2016-17 he finished in the top three in assists at the end of each season and leading the NHL in the 2014-15 season.
During the 2016-17 season, Backstrom was left off the All-Star roster once again to many Capitals fan’s disappointment. During that time Backstrom was top 10 in the league in total points and top five in assists. He also had just been named NHL First Star of the week for 10 points in 4 games. Though Backstrom was obviously one of the strongest players at that time he was still not given recognition for his play.
Backstrom was part of a talented 2006 draft class including Jonathan Toews, Claude Giroux, Brad Marchand, and Phil Kessel. When you read the list of players that were drafted that year Backstrom’s may not stick out to you if you aren’t a Capitals fan. Backstrom actually leads the 2006 draft class in points with 917, 56 points ahead of Phil Kessel at number two. With Backstrom adding a Stanley Cup to his resume in 2018, he only solidified his status as one of the best players to be drafted that year.
While proving to be a talented playmaker throughout his career, Backstrom has also been one of the best two-way players in the NHL. Backstrom has had a plus/minus of above 20 twice in his career and above 10 another three times. There have been multiple times where Backstrom has been worthy of at least a Selke nomination. In 2009-10, Backstrom put up a plus/minus of +37 while also putting up 101 points. The winner of the Selke award in 2010 was Pavel Datsyuk who posted a plus/minus of +17 and 70 points.
Backstrom has expressed before that personal accolades are not what pushes him and he does not mind being overlooked. But, everyone involved in the Caps organization has cared as proven by Barry Trotz’s efforts to get Backstrom into the 2016 All-Star Game.
"“It was important to me,” Trotz said. “Because I think when you have a player of his caliber, to not be recognized … I think it is a little bit of a travesty in some ways that he hasn’t got the attention that he deserves. I think when you do a job as well as he has for so long — and no one even paid attention to it, really. They’d sort of blow it by: ‘He’s a good player.’ He’s a great player…” “I think Nick’s okay with it,” Trotz went on. “But I wasn’t.”"
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Though “Nick” might be okay with it I know all Caps fans have not been over the past 13 years. Though it seems Backstrom will never be fully recognized by the whole NHL, he will go down in history as one of the greatest Washington Capitals players of all-time and will one day see the number 19 in the rafters of CapitalOne Arena.