Niklas Bäckström

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FinlandFinland  Niklas Bäckström Ice hockey player
Niklas Bäckström
Date of birth February 13, 1978
place of birth Helsinki , Finland
size 185 cm
Weight 89 kg
position goalkeeper
number # 32
Catch hand Left
Career stations
1996-2000 Helsingfors IFK
2000-2001 SaiPa Lappeenranta
2001-2002 AIK Solna
2002-2006 Kärpät Oulu
2006-2016 Minnesota Wild
2016 Calgary Flames
2016-2018 Helsingfors IFK
2018-2019 Tappara Tampere

Niklas Oskar Bäckström (born February 13, 1978 in Helsinki ) is a former Finnish ice hockey goalkeeper and current coach . He started his career in his home country and celebrated the Finnish championship with Kärpät Oulu in 2004 and 2005 . He then moved to the National Hockey League , where he played over 400 games for the Minnesota Wild and was briefly used for the Calgary Flames . In the jersey of the Wild, in which he still holds numerous franchise records, he led the NHL in 2007 in the categories conceded goals and catch quota and was therefore awarded the William M. Jennings Trophy and the Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award . With the Finnish national team , he won the silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics . Bäckström has been part of the Columbus Blue Jackets coaching staff since 2019 .

Career

He began his professional career in Finland in 1996 at Helsingfors IFK . In 2000 he moved to SaiPa Lappeenranta within the Finnish league . The 2001/02 season he went to Sweden to play in the Elitserien for a year for AIK Solna . He then returned and played for Oulun Kärpät for four years and was able to celebrate the Finnish championship there in 2004 and 2005.

At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin , he won the silver medal with the Finnish national team . At the 2006 World Cup he was nominated as the third goalkeeper and took over the role of back-up for Fredrik Norrena after the failure of Antero Niittymäki .

Bäckström in the Minnesota Wild jersey (2011)

In June 2006, signed Bäckström as a free agent a one-year, to 750,000 US dollars doped entry contract with the Minnesota Wild in the National Hockey League . There he should act as a competitor for Josh Harding , who was actually set to replace Manny Fernandez . Harding was injured before the start of the season and Bäckström took on the role of second goalkeeper. After his recovery, Harding was transferred to the Minnesota Wild farm team . On October 7, 2006, Backström made his NHL debut against the Nashville Predators . Since Manny Fernandez had already conceded three goals after 20 minutes, Bäckström was on the ice at the beginning of the second period. Bäckström had to accept two goals from 19 shots in the remaining 40 minutes, but Minnesota won the game 6-5. The first game in which he was used as a goalkeeper from the start, Minnesota lost 3-2. But Bäckström could show 35 saved shots.

When Fernandez was out for a long time due to a knee injury, Bäckström took over the position as number one and showed excellent performances. He was alternately backed up by Harding or Fernandez, whose recovery was very delayed. In the regular season he ran on 41 games, achieved a goal against average of 1.97, a catch rate of 92.1% and five shutouts , which brought him to the top of the league.

In the summer of 2007 - before the end of his contractual relationship with the Minnesota Wild, which would have made Bäckström a free agent - he signed a contract with the Wild for two more years.

After Bäckström had not played a competitive game in the 2015/16 season until February, he was handed over to the Calgary Flames together with a six- round vote for the NHL Entry Draft 2016 and thus left the organization of the Minnesota Wild after almost ten years. In return, David Jones moved to Minnesota. On March 20, 2016, Bäckström completed his first NHL game since January 2015 in the 4-1 success of the Flames over the Canadiens de Montréal . By the end of the season he had four missions before he left North America after ten years in his returned to Finland and signed a one-year contract with his youth club Helsingfors IFK in June 2016. He was active there for another year before joining Tappara Tampere for the 2018/19 season. He then ended his active career and switched to the Columbus Blue Jackets as goalkeeping coach for the 2019/20 season , so that he returned to the NHL.

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp S. N U OTN Min GT SO GTS Sv% Sp S. N Min GT SO GTS Sv%
1996/97 Helsingfors IFK SM-liiga 2 0 0 0 - 30th 3 0 6.00 82.4 - - - - - - - -
1997/98 Helsingfors IFK SM-liiga 3 - - - - - - - - -
1998/99 Helsingfors IFK SM-liiga 16 9 5 1 - 923 26th 1 1.69 93.2 - - - - - - - -
1999/00 Helsingfors IFK SM-liiga 4th 0 4th 0 - 155 17th 0 6.58 78.5 - - - - - - - -
2000/01 SaiPa Lappeenranta SM-liiga 49 22nd 24 2 - 2826 120 2 2.55 92.4 - - - - - - - -
2001/02 AIK Elitserien 40 - 2186 111 1 3.05 89.7 - - - - - - - -
2002/03 Kärpät Oulu SM-liiga 36 16 8th 9 - 2136 77 4th 2.16 92.9 15th 7th 8th 990 33 1 2.00 93.9
2003/04 Kärpät Oulu SM-liiga 43 24 8th 8th - 2572 87 7th 2.03 93.6 15th 9 6th 926 36 1 2.33 92.5
2004/05 Kärpät Oulu SM-liiga 47 27 10 10 - 2819 102 7th 2.17 92.7 12 10 2 720 15th 3 1.25 95.0
2005/06 Kärpät Oulu SM-liiga 51 32 9 10 - 3078 86 10 1.68 94.0 4th 3 1 195 6th 0 1.85 89.7
2006/07 Minnesota Wild NHL 41 23 8th - 6th 2227 73 5 1.97 92.9 5 1 4th 297 11 0 2.22 92.4
2007/08 Minnesota Wild NHL 58 33 13 - 8th 3409 131 4th 2.31 92.0 6th 2 4th 361 17th 0 2.83 90.0
2008/09 Minnesota Wild NHL 71 37 24 - 8th 4088 159 8th 2.33 92.3 - - - - - - - -
2009/10 Minnesota Wild NHL 60 26th 23 - 8th 3489 158 2 2.72 90.3 - - - - - - - -
2010/11 Minnesota Wild NHL 51 22nd 23 - 5 2978 158 3 2.66 91.6 - - - - - - - -
2011/12 Minnesota Wild NHL 46 19th 18th - 7th 2590 105 4th 2.43 91.9 - - - - - - - -
2012/13 Minnesota Wild NHL 41 24 15th - 3 2368 98 2 2.48 90.9 - - - - - - - -
2013/14 Minnesota Wild NHL 21st 5 11 - 2 1094 55 0 3.02 89.9 - - - - - - - -
2014/15 Minnesota Wild NHL 19th 5 7th - 3 1005 51 0 3.04 88.7 - - - - - - - -
2015/16 Calgary Flames NHL 4th 2 2 - 0 232 13 0 3.35 88.1 - - - - - - - -
2016/17 Helsingfors IFK Liiga 17th 8th 5 - 4th 382 32 1 1.87 92.3 2 1 1 105 6th 0 3.43 86.4
2017/18 Helsingfors IFK Liiga 7th 2 2 - 2 110 13 1 2.48 88.1 - - - - - - - -
2018/19 Tappara Tampere Liiga 15th 11 1 - 2 303 26th 2 1.73 92.3 1 0 0 9 0 0 0.00 100.0
(SM-) Liiga overall 290 49 30th 18th 2945 96 5 1.96 92.9
NHL overall 413 196 144 - 50 23481 975 28 2.49 91.4 11 3 8th 658 28 0 2.55 91.1

International

Bäckström in the jersey of the Finnish national team

Represented Finland at:

year team event result Sp S. N U Min GT SO GTS Sv%
1998 Finland June World Cup 1st place, gold 2 1 0 1 120 5 1 2.50 91.1
2005 Finland WM 7th place 5 1 1 3 310 11 1 2.13 91.1
2006 Finland Olympia 2nd place, silver Without any effort
2006 Finland WM 3rd place, bronze Without any effort
2008 Finland WM 3rd place, bronze 8th 6th 2 - 483 17th 1 2.11 92.2
2010 Finland Olympia 3rd place, bronze 2 1 0 - 110 2 1 1.09 95.2
2016 Finland WM 2nd place, silver Without any effort
Juniors overall 2 1 0 1 120 5 1 2.50 91.1
Men overall 15th 8th 3 3 903 30th 3 1.99 92.2

( Legend for the goalkeeper statistics: GP or Sp = total games; W or S = wins; L or N = defeats; T or U or OT = draws or overtime or shootout defeats; min. = Minutes; SOG or SaT = shots on goal; GA or GT = goals conceded; SO = shutouts ; GAA or GTS = goals conceded ; Sv% or SVS% = catch quota ; EN = empty net goal ; 1  play-downs / relegation ; italics : statistics not complete)

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Commons : Niklas Bäckström  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Backström, Niklas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bäckström, Niklas Oskar (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish ice hockey goalkeeper and coach
DATE OF BIRTH February 13, 1978
PLACE OF BIRTH Helsinki , Finland