GAVLE, Sweden -- Nicklas Backstrom is living out his childhood dream. Again.

Long before Backstrom imagined playing in the NHL, setting up Alex Ovechkin for all those goals and lifting the Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals, he was a 10-year-old in the stands here at Gavlerinken (renamed Monitor ERP Arena in 2019), wanting to follow in his father's footsteps and wear the black, yellow and red of his hometown team, Brynas IF.

"To put that jersey on, I think it's an honor," Backstrom told NHL.com earlier this month. "There's a lot of history in this club."

Backstrom did it, of course, working his way up through the Tigers' junior program before debuting in the Elitserien (Swedish Elite League) in 2004-05 when he was 16. That led to the Capitals selecting the slick-passing cente

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