Backstrom To Skate On The Wing?

The CP asks, "Are the Washington Capitals this year's sleeper team in the NHL's Eastern Conference?"

Olie Kolzig answers in the affirmative, and he says all the right things throughout the article, but of more significant interest (as CapsChick astutely points out) is this suggestion that Nicklas Backstrom may be end up skating on a wing (presumably the right one) to start his career:

The top two lines will score goals but it's not clear yet how they will line up. A lot of it depends on how the 19-year-old Backstrom fits in. Will he play centre or wing? And on which of the four lines?

"We know we have a very smart player, a very responsible player, someone who can make a play, someone who is good on faceoffs and really sharp defensively," said [GM George] McPhee. "But you just don't know if they're ready to handle that centre-ice position."

McPhee points out that rookies Jordan Staal of the Penguins and Phil Kessel of the Bruins, both natural centres, played the wing most of last season.

"We'll just have to see where Backstrom fits," he said.

It certainly will be interesting to see how the top two lines (and the bottom two, for that matter) shake out in camp.