Washington Capitals center and assistant captain Nick Backstrom has decided to step away from Capitals and hockey, the Capitals announced today. Backstrom stated that his stepping away from the game is because of an on going injury situation.
Backstrom while healthy throughout most of his career had hip resurfacing surgery last summer and missed most of the season last year. It has been several hip related injuries from Backstrom in recent years that has kept him sidelined. Hip injuries for athletes are incredibly hard and rare to come back from especially for contact and collision sports.
In eight games for the Capitals, Backstrom only recorded one assist in eight games and a minus three rating. While Backstrom’s the hands and awareness were still there and effective on the power play he struggled to keep up in five-on-five situations.
In all honesty, it may be the best for the Capitals is Backstrom steps away unless he can return at 100% but at 35 years old it seems unlikely.
We wish the best for Backstrom and his recovery. At the very least we hope that he can live a healthy pain-free life outside of hockey.
If Backstrom retires today he is a Hall of Famer with 271 goals, 762 assist and a plus 83 rating while being known as the primary set up man for Alex Ovechkin.
Here are the statements from Backstrom and the Capitals.
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