International Ice Hockey Federation

Backstrom to join Sweden

Backstrom to join Sweden

Capitals centre gives Tre Kronor boost

Published 13.05.2017 12:54 GMT+2 | Author Martin Merk
Backstrom to join Sweden
Nicklas Backstrom most recently represented Sweden at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Photo: Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images
The Swedish national team continues to use its last roster spots for star players. After today’s arrival of Henrik Lundqvist, Nicklas Backstrom will be next.

The Swedish Ice Hockey Association confirmed today that Nicklas Backstrom will travel to the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship and join the Swedish men’s national team in Cologne.

Backstrom will be the fourth player of the Washington Capitals, who lost the NHL Eastern Conference semi-final series to the Pittsburgh Penguins, to travel to Cologne after Russian players Yevgeni Kuznetsov and Dmitri Orlov, and German goalie Philipp Grubauer.

Backstrom is expected to land in Germany on Sunday morning.

The 29-year-old has been playing for the National Hockey League’s Washington Capitals since he joined the team coming from Brynas Gavle of the Swedish Hockey League in 2007. He has been the team’s scoring leader both in the regular season with 23 goals and 86 points in 82 games and in the playoffs with 6 goals and 13 points in 13 games. He was fourth overall in NHL scoring during the regular season and sixth overall in the playoffs.

Backstrom has appeared in four IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships winning gold as an 18-year-old at the 2006 Worlds in Riga, Latvia. He also represented Sweden at the Olympic Winter Games in 2010 and 2014 helping his team to win silver at the most recent tournament in Sochi, Russia.

After adding Lundqvist and Backstrom, Sweden’s roster will consist of three goaltenders and 21 skaters with one more open roster spot for an additional skater.

 

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