[B/R Open Ice] Nicklas Backstrom had reportedly been dealing with chronic hip pain since 2015 before having hip resurfacing surgery in 2022. He now says he is pain-free and will be at the Capitals’ training camp in the fall.
Nicklas Backstrom had reportedly been dealing with chronic hip pain since 2015 before having hip resurfacing surgery in 2022 😳
He now says he is pain-free and will be at the Capitals' training camp in the fall.
(h/t The Hockey News) pic.twitter.com/L614cDMNmc
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) July 19, 2023
by brann182
5 Comments
Prior to Backstrom and Kane, the only other guys to do this were Kesler and Jovo, and they were both pretty much out of the league afterwards. Backy looked like he’d lost a step coming back last season, but here’s hoping with a full offseason of recovery, he’ll be back to his old Ovi feeding self.
In other words, he played the entire 2018 Cup run with it.
Hopefully he can be more effective this year. We’re gonna need it.
I think he’s got a few things going for him this year that could help return him to decent form. The first and most important of all is a full summer of training, last year he was still rehabbing during the off-season and by his own admission was playing catch up the whole year, secondly, I think the hiring of Carbery will also help. In one of the interviews Carbery talks about playing with pace and pace not directly meaning skating speed. Backstrom may not have the overall skating speed (he was never a world beater in that regard) he had before, but I think he’s got more than enough Hockey IQ to play with pace. I think this is a make or break year for Backstrom and the Caps. I’m preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best.
Oh yeah, we are back boys