Nicklas Backstrom's Place Among the NHL's Elite

Adam Gretz decided to take a look back at some of the top picks from the 2006 NHL Draft. He eats a giant plate of crow regarding Nicklas Backstrom, and examines what might be a breakout season for Jordan Staal.

This past summer I attempted to count down my top 50 players in the NHL. Some of you liked it, many of you did not. While I stand by it for the most part, I'll be the first to admit I missed on a few players, whether they be too high, too low or not on there at all. And Evgeni Malkin's recent goal-less drought/disappearing act isn't exactly helping me. That said, one of the biggest omissions -- then and now -- would have to be Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom (and I heard about it, too), who continues to cement his status as one of the game's best players. And, unfortunately, I missed the boat. Consider this my plate of tasty, tasty crow.

With two more assists on Friday during Washington's 6-1 thrashing of Toronto, Backstrom finds himself among the league leaders in both assists and points for a second consecutive season. Playing alongside the best goal-scorer to enter the league in well over 20 years certainly isn't going to hurt an assist total. But if you look at it like that, here's the impressive thing about what Backstrom's done so far in the NHL: most of his assists are on goals scored by players not named Alex Ovechkin.

Here's the year-by-year breakdown.

Nicklas Backstrom Assists Breakdown
Year	Assists	Goals by Ovechkin	Not Ovechkin
2007-08	55	22	33
2008-09	66	22	44
2009-10	35	11	24
Totals	156	55	101

If you ignored the 55 assists on goals scored by Ovechkin he would still have more helpers than any player taken in his draft class (a class that included Jonathan Toews, Phil Kessel and Jordan Staal). This season his game appears to have gone to yet another level. He's on pace for a 30-plus goal season (his previous career-high was 22) and he's also scoring at a higher rate in even-strength situations.

San Jose's Joe Thornton is currently the top assist man in the NHL (as he's been in three of the past four seasons) and Backstrom probably isn't catching him this season. I'm guessing nobody will. In the not-to-distant future, however, it's difficult to imagine him not being the top set-up man in the NHL.

Jordan Staal has been an interesting player to watch since he made his debut four years ago. The No. 2 pick in 2006, he's yet to put up the type of offensive numbers you would expect from such a high selection, but he's quickly developed into a strong defensive player and Pittsburgh's best penalty killer. As long as he plays on the same team as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin he's always going to be looked at as a No. 3 center. But is he more than that, and could he fit in as a No. 1 or 2 center on another team?

Entering play on Saturday (Pittsburgh is at Vancouver) there are only eight centers in the NHL that have more even-strength points than Staal. They are: Henrik Sedin, Crosby, Joe Thornton, Nathan Hornton, Backstrom, Brad Richards, Paul Stastny, and Ryan Getzlaf, in that order. There's obviously quite a few big names not on that list (like, say, Evgeni Malkin), which is somewhat surprising. If Staal is so good in even-strength situations -- and his line has been Pittsburgh's most consistent group all season -- why doesn't he have more points overall?

Perhaps the biggest reason is the distribution of ice-time.

Staal sees significantly less time on the power play than most top centers (68 centers have seen more than him) and is typically on the Penguins' second power play unit. On the other hand, he's also Pittsburgh's top penalty killer and is fourth among all centers in terms of shorthanded ice time. Only Jay McClement, Todd Marchant and Tomas Plekanec have recorded more. Obviously, more shorthanded time and less power play time is going to cut down on your scoring chances.

He may not be the second-best player to come out of the '06 class (would you trade Backstrom or Jonathan Toews for him? Neither would I), but he couldn't have been a more perfect fit for Pittsburgh. And while another team would probably give up a hefty price in a trade to use him as a potential top-six center, it's hard to see why Pittsburgh would even consider it at this point.