Photo: Bildbyrån
Nicklas Bäckström has not played anything for Washington since last October.
Nevertheless, Brynäs is doing everything in its power to bring the 36-year-old home for the summer.
– For me, he is a dream name if he could play hockey one more year, says Brynäs sports manager Johan Alcén in GD’s podcast “Nedslöpp Brynäs”.
The fact that the classic club Brynäs made it back into the SHL after a year in the Hockey Allsvenskan probably pleased most die-hard hockey lovers in Sweden. However, few would have thought that the newcomer would climb all the way up to second place in the table in time for the first national team break. They owe a lot to their dear returnees.
Daily contact with “Bäckis”
Jakob Silfverberg, Victor Söderström, Christian Djoos and Oscar Lindblom have all become major key players in the team since deciding to come home. Even the captain Johan Larsson did many years in the NHL before moving back to Gävle. Now the club’s sporting director hopes Johan Alcén that the absolute biggest name will ever come to Brynäs after the season. They really want to Nicklas Bäckström36, will be moving from the US this summer. And the player himself has often referred in previous interviews to the fact that he would like to end his career in Sweden.
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– If not daily, we at least hear each other weekly via SMS. We have known each other since we were 13-14 years old, so it is not only for professional and sporting reasons that we hear each other, but it is clear that you sometimes ask if it would work next year and how he feels. So it is clear that they are trying to ask the question. But I don’t get any real answers, says Alcén in Gefle Dagblad’s podcast “Nedslöpp Brynäs”.
Alcén pays tribute to Bäckström
Nicklas Bäckström has not played hockey since last October due to an injury. He played just eight games for the Washington Capitals – with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2018 – last season. This year he has not been able to play at all. After the season, his contract with Washington expires and then his friend Alcén hopes he will choose Brynäs. Along with Toronto’s Calle Järnkrok is Bäckström really the sporting director’s dream name to bring in.
– Yes, he is. Both as a person and as a player, he has an ability on the ice where you get the puck when you want it. He has a sense of play and an IQ that is unique – and he has had it since he was seven or eight years old. As a person, he is a leader. He is as self-evident as Silfverberg, prestigeless and does not need to assert himself. It’s enough for him to look at someone and people understand that now it’s serious. So for me he is a dream name if he could play hockey for one more year, if it works out, he says in the podcast.
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The question is whether “Bäckis”, who may not have played a match for almost two years, will add anything to Brynäs next season? Alcén does not think there would be any problems. In the SHL, he would dominate as long as he got on the ice.
– Yes. He has always controlled the pace of his matches. He has the puck and he decides how the turnovers look. So he would be able to do that, he says.
Hope Nicklas Bäckström can play hockey again soon, so we can enjoy watching him play. It would also be very cool to see him in the SHL again. Just keep your fingers crossed that it will happen in the future.
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