Alzner, Bouchard, Godfrey Returned To Juniors; Backstrom To Start Season On The Wing?

A fair amount of news on some of the organization's top prospects, as the trio of Karl Alzner, Francois Bouchard and Josh Godfrey were all returned to their junior teams today and word is that Nicklas Backstrom likely won't be centering one of the top two lines when the first puck drops in Atlanta on October 5.

Tarik reports that the team "plans to start the season with Michael Nylander and Viktor Kozlov as the No. 1 and No. 2 centers," likely meaning that Nicklas Backstrom will start his NHL career skating on the right wing. Or does it mean something else entirely? Stay tuned.

By the way (and in case you're wondering), Kozlov has won a woeful 41% of his 647 faceoffs since the lockout.

Finally, thanks to Director of Media Relations Nate Ewell for clarifying that, contrary to somewhat popular belief, Backstrom does not have an "out" clause in his contract that would allow him to return to Sweden if the Caps want to send him to Hershey.