The Washington Capitals will hold a pre-game ceremony on Nov. 7 against the Pittsburgh Penguins to honor Nicklas Backstrom for reaching the 600 assist milestone. During the ceremony, Backstrom will receive a special gift from the National Hockey League and the Capitals organization. 

FROM CAPITALS MEDIA RELEASE

Backstrom became the first player in Capitals franchise and the 87th player in NHL history to reach the 600 assist mark on Oct. 22 against the Vancouver Canucks, earning an assist on Alex Ovechkin’s third period goal at Rogers Arena.

Backstrom has registered 814 points (212g, 602a) in 827 career NHL games and ranks first in franchise history in assists, third in points and sixth in games played.  Backstrom was drafted by Washington in the first round, fourth overall, in the 2006 NHL Draft. He is the first player from the 2006 Draft class to reach the 600-assist plateau and also ranks first among players drafted in 2006 in points. The Gavle, Sweden, native is the ninth Swedish-born player in NHL history to reach 600 assists, joining Nicklas Lidstrom (878), Henrik Sedin (830),  Mats Sundin (785), Daniel Alfredsson (713), Daniel Sedin (648), Borje Salming (637), Peter Forsberg (636) and Henrik Zetterberg (623). Backstrom also became the second-fastest Swedish-born player in NHL history to reach the 600-assist plateau (Forsberg, 551 GP). Backstrom set up 52 different teammates on the road to 600 career assists, including 234 helpers on goals by Alex Ovechkin (39 percent).

Since he entered the NHL in 2007-08, Backstrom ranks first in the NHL in assists and ranks fifth in points. He also leads the NHL in power-play assists (273) since 2007-08 and ranks second in power-play points (340), trailing Ovechkin (355). In addition, he ranks first in multi-assist games since he entered the League (141), first in three-assist games (40) and four-assist games (11).

Backstrom tallied the third-most assists in a season in Capitals history in 2009-10 (68) and has recorded five of the 10 60-assist seasons in franchise history (2008-09, 2009-10, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2016-17). In addition, he ranks first in Capitals history in 40-assist seasons (10) and 50-assist seasons (8).

This season, Backstrom has recorded 15 points (3g, 12a) in 12 games and leads the team in assists.