Washington Capitals News: Nicklas Backstrom had a “great summer”, GMBM gets extension

Welcome to Monday, Washington Capitals fans. Another dreadful week coming up with no hockey. But it isn’t all bad. In fact there’s even some good news when it comes to Nicklas Backstrom’s preparation for the season.

Then as I was typing this another newsworthy thing flashed across my screen. The Capitals are working on an extension for general manger Brian MacLellan while Dick Patrick moves to a lesser role.

We’ve got you all caught up here:

Nicklas Backstorm On Preparations For 2023-24 Season: “I’ve Had A Great Summer”

(Diane Doyle/NoVa Caps)

Nicklas Backstrom has a big decision coming up on whether he’ll continue to play or not. Based on what we’ve heard and seen, it looks like he’s going to try his best to show that he’s still got it.

Backstrom told a Swedish news outlet about his preparations:

“Yes, but it’s been very different now. I’ve been pretty open about everything that’s happened to me, and I haven’t been able to train the way I wanted to in recent years, but now this year I’ve had a great summer and been on the ice before so I’m looking forward to the season.”

In Mac they trust: Capitals give GM new contract, elevated title

(Barry Svrluga/The Washington Post)

This upcoming season will be Brian MacLellan’s 10th as a general manager. And it looks like he’s going to be a general manger of the Capitals for a long time as the Caps extended MacLellan’s contract.

They did more than that though. They also promoted him to president of hockey operations and general manager. The team will make it official later today, per the Post.

This move will allow longtime team president Dick Patrick to slide into a less active role. Patrick is 76 years old. The Caps are also promoting Dick’s son Chris, who’s 47, to associate general manger. We’ll have much more on that later.