The Washington Capitals Are An Average Team Ten Games Into The Season

Nicklas Backstrom

This could easily be the headline of the season, almost no matter what happens. Have we seen the last of the Capitals legend?

Coming into this season I saw and heard a lot of people saying how great Backstrom looked. Nobody seemed to want to talk about his injuries. Even he himself said he was tired of talking about his recent injury history.

Yet here we are, not even ten games into the season and Backstrom is “taking time away” from the team due to an “ongoing injury situation”.

He looked incredibly slow while he was playing. He was not having much of an impact on the ice at all. The last few games he had some of the lowest time on ice among forwards. In his last three games his time on ice was 12:40, 11:55 and 12:24. Incredibly low for a guy like Backstrom.

I’m not sure what he brought to the team anymore. At least on the ice. I’m sure he brought leadership in the room. But the Caps have plenty of that. Ovechkin, Carlson, Wilson, Oshie. It’s not like the team has a lack of leaders.

Unfortunately, it looks like injuries have done in one of the best playmakers of his time. One way or another. He is either unable to play, or when he does play he is unable to make much of an impact any longer.

Lets hope we see Backstrom on the ice once again and he is able to end his career more on his terms and on better terms.