#andre burakovsky

“best (new) smile” for frank im dead // knighter saying he mogs frank a lot, mikky hiding, & burky’s big ass smile

(spits grimly on hands and cracks knuckles)

I guess I'll link the first one I did of these mostly so I can try to keep from repeating myself and also this excellent one and this other excellent one but here we go with USELESS BACKSTROM TRIVIA 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO.

Got his first pair of skates at age three, refused to take them off all day throughout the house, and eventually fell asleep in them.

Described by his Swedish coach and teammates as "he has a fox behind his ear" in implication that he's sneaky and/or looks as though he's up to something.

He nearly lost one of his first paychecks when he put the paper check in his car and found it under the seat a couple weeks later.

In 2010, Alex Ovechkin scored his 50th goal of the season off (naturally enough) a Nicklas Backstrom assist, which was Nicke's 100th point of the season. Real soulmate shit. When asked which of them would get the milestone puck after they posed together, Nicke joked they were going to split it in half, which Ovi backed up. And in fact, they absolutely DID split it in half, as the framed half puck was visible in the background of an Ovi instagram story in 2014.

When asked what he'd be doing if he weren't a hockey player, he said he'd be a carpenter.

He has an arena named after him in Valbo, the small town just outside of Gävle where he grew up. It's called the Nickback Arena.

He was the one who quietly egged Ovi on to do his Don Cherry impression during a fan panel.

Kicks ass at Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Near unanimous pick amongst teammates for having the best iPod playlist for the room.

At one point had (might still have?) his own BackstromMoji emoji downloads so you could "let Backstrom ASSIST you in your conversations"

Also picked out as one of the best card players on the team.

Not the biggest fan of playing tour guide.

Nicke not only housed him for a while, he loaned Andre Burakovsky his car during Burky's first NHL season to pick up some friends at the airport. Burky managed to get pulled over for speeding, and immediately called Nicke and asked him what to do, which apparently involved this exchange:. ”How fast were you going?” ”Um, yeah, 80.” ”But how could you drive at 80 when you know that the speed limit is 55?” ”Yeah but, the road was going down hill…”

His artistic skills are... unique to say the least.

Has strong opinions on hair gel and his teammates' hair in general.

Extremely varied musical taste. (I should update that; there's been more data since then.)

When noted head elbower Matt Cooke went knee on knee with Ovi, Nicke did a 180 on the ice to go punch him in the face, later remarking, "I was just trying to back up my boy there. It wasn't a nice thing he [Cooke] was doing there…I was just trying to let him know that he can't do that." x x

During the interminable concussion period of 2012, he absolutely doused Alex Semin with a water/gatorade bottle when Semin tried to sneak up on him observing practice and spray him, an event that was caught in delightful photographic succession:

I had to doublecheck this because I was sure there was one, but apparently Nicke never took a single penalty shot for the Caps. (Presumably everyone was too afraid to foul Mean Lars on his way to the net.)

When the Caps put out their Cooking with the Caps cookbook in 2017, Nicke's recipe contribution was apparently, uh, pomegranate glazed chicken with beets and carrots.

Has received (by my count) at least three watches from Ovi for helping him hit various milestones (and two rings, even if he hid during it. Has also given Ovi a necklace.)