Headlines

  • Connor McDavid In No Rush To Sign Max-Term Extension With Oilers
  • Blackhawks To Buy Out T.J. Brodie
  • Blackhawks Acquire Andre Burakovsky
  • Dallas Stars Sign Mavrik Bourque To One-Year Deal
  • Dallas Stars Sign Nils Lundkvist To One-Year Deal
  • Penguins Announce Multiple Coaching Hires
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors

Pro Hockey Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • Atlantic
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Central
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Utah Mammoth
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • Metropolitan
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Pacific
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle Kraken
      • Vancouver Canucks
      • Vegas Golden Knights
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Partners
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Nicklas Bäckström To Attempt Resuming Playing Career In Sweden

May 16, 2025 at 4:52 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 1 Comment

Capitals franchise legend Nicklas Bäckström hasn’t played since October 2023 after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery and was expected to retire when his contract expires this summer. While the center’s NHL days are still set to be over, it doesn’t look like he’s ready to hang up the skates entirely. He’s planning on signing a one-year deal with Brynäs IF of the Swedish Hockey League and slowly get back into game action, per Tomas Ros and Hans Abrahamsson of Aftonbladet.

“The dream comeback,” Ros and Abrahamsson wrote (translated from Swedish by Chris Cerullo of Russian Machine Never Breaks). “What we hear now is that he is signing a one-year contract with Brynäs and is treading very carefully. Maybe only playing half the games until Christmas. Then it will be more and more.”

Brynäs was Bäckström’s youth club and first professional team back when he made his SHL (then called Elitserien) debut in the 2004-05 campaign. He scored 66 points in 110 games for Brynäs before coming to Washington in 2007.

Bäckström’s hip problems limited him to 94 total regular-season appearances over what will stand as his final three NHL seasons. Now 37, Bäckström was long one of the league’s top two-way centers and breached the 70-point mark on eight occasions as Alex Ovechkin’s primary setup man throughout his career. The fourth overall pick in the 2006 draft, he ranks second from that year’s selections in career points behind Claude Giroux (although he can still be realistically usurped by Brad Marchand). His 762 assists are a Capitals franchise record, and he and Ovechkin are the only two players to record 1,000 points for Washington.

Bäckström hasn’t played for Brynäs since his pre-NHL days. He instead opted to play in Russia with Ovechkin during the 2012-13 lockout.

It would be quite the morale boost for a Brynäs club that’s already authored an impressive story over the last year or so. A top-flight fixture in Swedish hockey since the 1950s, Brynäs was demoted to the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan for the 2023-24 campaign but won promotion back to the SHL in their first year back down. The club returned with a vengeance, finishing first in regular-season play and advancing to the playoff final, losing to Luleå HF. Their roster next year is highlighted by a few former NHLers including Jakob Silfverberg and includes defenseman Christian Djoos, who was briefly teammates with Bäckström in Washington.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email

Newsstand| SHL| Washington Capitals Nicklas Backstrom

Capitals’ Ryan Chesley Signs Entry-Level Deal
Main
Ken Holland Accepts Kings GM Position
View Comments (1)

Comments

  1. 66TheNumberOfTheBest

    1 month ago

    So, his healing is timing out perfectly with him no longer being a cap burden?

    Good for him.

    1
    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Connor McDavid In No Rush To Sign Max-Term Extension With Oilers

    Blackhawks To Buy Out T.J. Brodie

    Blackhawks Acquire Andre Burakovsky

    Dallas Stars Sign Mavrik Bourque To One-Year Deal

    Dallas Stars Sign Nils Lundkvist To One-Year Deal

    Penguins Announce Multiple Coaching Hires

    Jonathan Toews In Agreement On One-Year Deal With Winnipeg Jets

    PHR’s 2025 NHL Mock Draft

    Seattle Kraken Acquire Mason Marchment

    Stars Sign Matt Duchene To Four-Year Extension

    Recent

    Free Agent Focus: Vancouver Canucks

    Connor McDavid In No Rush To Sign Max-Term Extension With Oilers

    Maple Leafs, Kraken To Pursue Andrew Mangiapane

    Free Agent Focus: Utah Mammoth

    Offseason Checklist: Dallas Stars

    Strong Market Developing For K’Andre Miller

    UFA Notes: Marner, Tavares, Toninato, Del Gaizo

    Devils Expected To Non-Tender Cody Glass

    Central Notes: Wild, Loponen, Marques

    Blackhawks To Buy Out T.J. Brodie

    Rumors By Team

    Rumors By Team

    • Avalanche Rumors
    • Blackhawks Rumors
    • Blue Jackets Rumors
    • Blues Rumors
    • Bruins Rumors
    • Canadiens Rumors
    • Canucks Rumors
    • Capitals Rumors
    • Devils Rumors
    • Ducks Rumors
    • Flames Rumors
    • Flyers Rumors
    • Golden Knights Rumors
    • Hurricanes Rumors
    • Islanders Rumors
    • Jets Rumors
    • Kings Rumors
    • Kraken Rumors
    • Lightning Rumors
    • Mammoth Rumors
    • Maple Leafs Rumors
    • Oilers Rumors
    • Panthers Rumors
    • Penguins Rumors
    • Predators Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Red Wings Rumors
    • Sabres Rumors
    • Senators Rumors
    • Sharks Rumors
    • Stars Rumors
    • Wild Rumors

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Sam Bennett Rumors
    • Nikolaj Ehlers Rumors
    • Mitch Marner Rumors
    • Marco Rossi Rumors

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    • Support Pro Hockey Rumors And Go Ad-Free
    • 2025 Free Agent Focus Series
    • 2025 Offseason Checklist Series
    • 2025 NHL Free Agent List
    • 2026 NHL Free Agent List
    • Active Roster Tracker
    • Coaching Staff Directory
    • Draft Order 2025
    • Key Offseason Dates
    • Offseason Trade Tracker
    • Pro Hockey Rumors On X
    • Pro Hockey Rumors Polls
    • Waiver Claims 2024-25

     

     

     

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives

    PHR Info

    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Commenting Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

    scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version