Photo credit: Annakarin Björnström

Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom, currently at home in Gävle, Sweden, shared some big news on Wednesday with Anna Höglund of the Swedish newspaper gd.se: Backstrom and his fiancée are expecting their first child.

“October 6 is the anticipated date,” Backstrom told Höglund, as translated by Jacob Ware. “It feels great, but of course things are going to be different.”

Apart from spending time with family, friends, and his fiancée, Bäckström tells Höglund he’s been spending the summer training hard with Florida Panthers goalie Jacob Markström.

“We work out every Monday through Friday,” Backstrom revealed. “You have to make sure you keep working even if you’re off.”

On August 9th, Backstrom will return to the US to begin training again at Kettler Capitals Iceplex with his teammates. Two months after that, he will be a hockey dad.

Our young guns are all grown up.

Thanks to @RabiesMalin for first tweeting.