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23 - Number of days remaining until the Caps open the 2014-15 season. But it's also...
...the number of even-strength assists for Nicklas Backstrom in 2013-14, his lowest total of any season in which he's played at least 75 games and two fewer than in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. It's also the lowest per-game rate of his career, and accounted for the lowest percentage of his total assists at just under 38%.
Backstrom's struggles at even-strength last year were certainly reflections of a problem that plagued the team as a whole (and his line in particular) - one only has to look at his year-by-year numbers to know that this is usually an area in which he excels, and one that should (hopefully) rebound if the team improves at even strength.
| Season | GP | A | ESA | ESA/Gm | % of Total |
| 2013-14 | 82 | 61 | 23 | 0.28 | 37.70% |
| 2012-13 | 48 | 40 | 25 | 0.52 | 62.50% |
| 2011-12 | 42 | 30 | 14 | 0.33 | 46.67% |
| 2010-11 | 77 | 47 | 29 | 0.38 | 61.70% |
| 2009-10 | 82 | 68 | 42 | 0.51 | 61.76% |
| 2008-09 | 82 | 66 | 38 | 0.46 | 57.58% |
| 2007-08 | 82 | 55 | 33 | 0.40 | 60.00% |