Caps looking at potentially an entire season without one of their best players
As we get closer to the beginning of NHL training camps which start in a month, it looks like the Washington Capitals will look different down the middle next season, and not by choice.
Tarik El-Bashir is reporting that the feeling in the Capitals organization is that center Nicklas Backstrom won't be playing for the entire 2022-23 NHL season. Backstrom has been dealing with a nagging hip injury. He missed a good chunk of this season due to the injury and played in just 47 games.
Washington announced back in June that Backstrom had surgery on his hip. Frank Seravalli noted back in June that Ryan Kesler and Ed Jovanovski are the only two other players to have this surgery, and they have never played again. Will Backstrom will suffer a similar fate?
With Backstrom done, an option Washington can look into is Nazem Kadri, as he still listed as a free agent. Thankfully, the Caps struck a deal with Dylan Strome during free agency, so while Evgeny Kuznetsov will shift up to play with Ovechkin, at least the Caps aren't stuck with a bottom six forward centering the second line.
If Backstorm's career is done in the NHL, he has put together a solid resume, playing in 1058 games with 264 goals and 747 assists for 1011 points. Backstrom won a Stanley Cup with the Caps in 2018.
| POLL | ||
AOUT 13 | 169 ANSWERS Caps looking at potentially an entire season without one of their best players Will Backstrom ever play another NHL game? | ||
| Yes | 50 | 29.6 % |
| No | 59 | 34.9 % |
| I'm not sure | 60 | 35.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
