Backstrom among four Capitals heading to world championship

Nicklas Backstrom talks about the Washington Capitals failure to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

With their season now over, four players from the Washington Capitals will be heading to Cologne and Paris to represent their home countries at the world championship.

Forward Nicklas Backstrom will represent Sweden, goaltender Philipp Grubauer will represent Germany, and forward Evgeny Kuznetsov and defenceman Dmitry Orlov will lace up for Russia.

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Backstrom, 29, is playing for Sweden for the ninth time in his career and at his fourth world championship. He led the Capitals with 86 points this season and he was second in the league with 63 assists.

Grubauer, 25, is heading home to represent co-host country Germany. He posted a 13-6-2 record this season with three shutouts, a 2.04 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage.

Kuznetsov, 24, is representing Russia for the fifth time at the world championship. He had 19 goals and 59 points in 82 games this season.

Orlov, 25, will be playing in his third world championship with Russia. He is coming off a career-best season in which he scored six goals and 33 points in 82 games.

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