Last November, former Swedish Idol judge and hockey/media guy Daniel Breitholtz did a bit where Nicklas Backstrom literally tattooed his arm at a DC tattoo parlor for a video on Aftonbladet, Sweden’s biggest newspaper. For their next trick, Backstrom and Breitholtz teamed up to mess with Caps’ Swedes Marcus Johansson and Andre Burakovsky.

The prank was pretty basic. Host Daniel Breitholtz is supposed to conduct a serious interview with Johansson and Burakovsky. But what they don’t know is Breitholtz is getting all of the questions from Caps center Nicklas Backstrom through his earpiece. Once Marcus is let in on the prank, they team up to continue the fun against a very confused Burakovsky.

There’s a reference to Swedes on bikes.

RMNB contributor Magnus Cadelin has a full translation of the video below. (Please note Jimmy Wixtröm, shown in the very beginning, is a Swedish journalist.)

Jimmy Wixtröm: We’ve heard about a lot of pranking going on between hockey players.

Daniel Breitholtz: Yes, and sometimes as a hockey player you get some pretty tricky questions.

Jimmy Wixtröm: And the Swedes on the NHL teams often prank each other.

Daniel Breitholtz: But the really hard part is when Swedish journalists asks goofy, stupid questions. “How the hell am I supposed to answer this?!” I thought we should try this today!

Daniel Breitholtz: We’re here in Washington DC, alongside this guy – Nicklas Backstrom. We’re going to prank his [teammates] “Mackan” and André.

Daniel Breitholtz: André and Marcus are coming in here, thinking they’re being interviewed by me. But what they don’t know, is that Nicklas is the one asking all the questions, through me. We’ll let in Nicklas and let the guys know it’s a prank, but it will be fun to see how they react! Is that alright with you, Nicklas?

Nicklas Backstrom: It feels great!

Marcus Johansson Interview

Daniel Breitholtz: I’ll do a clap here, and then we’ll start!

Marcus Johansson: Yeah, let’s go!

Nicklas Backstrom: Use the wrong jersey number!

Daniel Breitholtz: So here I am in Washington, with the Capitals number 91, Marcus Johansson.

Marcus Johansson: No.. Sorry.. Number 90.

Daniel Breitholtz: Number 90?!

Marcus Johansson: Yes..

Daniel Breitholtz: Oh, okay.

Marcus Johansson: It’s alright, I just thought I said something before.

Nicklas Backstrom: Ask him where he bought his shirt. It’s a really nice shirt.

Daniel Breitholtz: You’ve got a really nice shirt on, where did you get it?

Marcus Johansson: Thanks! Well I don’t know why I bought it.

Daniel Breitholtz: If you were an animal, which animal would you be?

Marcus Johansson: Oh. A bird, I think.

Daniel Breitholtz: And why is that?

Marcus Johansson: Uhhh. To fly around and see things from above would be pretty cool.

Nicklas Backstrom: Ask him if it’s hard to stand in the shadow of Nicklas Backstrom?

Daniel Breitholtz: Is it hard to be in the shadow of Backy?

Marcus Johansson: No, it doesn’t matter.

Daniel Breitholtz: Is it inspiring to play with such incredibly talented player like Nicklas Backstrom?

Marcus Johansson: It is!

Daniel Breitholtz: Besides playing a lot with Nicklas Backstrom, what is the reason things have turned out so well for you?

Marcus Johansson: Uhhh.

Daniel Breitholtz: I get that it’s really cool to spend time in the same city as Nicklas Backstrom, to walk in his shoes, do what he does, that must feel pretty cool every day, right?

[Awkward three second silence]

Marcus Johansson: Yes, it is…

Nicklas Backstrom: Rank the players of the NHL!

Daniel Breitholtz: There’s a lot of really good players in the NHL. Could you rank the players of the NHL?

Marcus Johansson: Uh, who’s the best?

Daniel Breitholtz: Yeah, just.. rank the players of the NHL.

Marcus Johansson: Well.. That’s not easy.

[Awkward silence, Nicky laughing]

Marcus Johansson: If I was to say one of the best, I’d probably say Pavel Datsyuk is the best. He’s a 10 out of 10.

Nicklas Backstrom: Ask him what he thinks of Swedish politics.

Daniel Breitholtz: What do you think of Swedish politics?

Marcus Johansson: Wow. I’m not really into that at the time. A really hard question. [Laughs]

Daniel Breitholtz: Great. My earpiece is working really well, I hear loud and clear what everyone’s saying. It feels really good!

Daniel Breitholtz: Well. There’s a lot of Swedish people named Johansson. Are you related to everyone? [Ed. note: Johansson is Sweden’s second most common surname with 245,018 people having it in the latest census.]

Marcus Johansson: No…

[Nicklas enters the room and everyone laughs.]

Marcus Johansson: I though that guy would enter the room! [Points at Nicklas.]

Daniel Breitholtz: I’m so sorry! He has said everything I was to ask you! I’m sorry!

Marcus Johansson: I understood he had something to do with it!

Daniel Breitholtz: You did! I felt so anxious about this! To ask all these damn questions, to this poor man!

Marcus Johansson: I thought to myself, this isn’t right! But then I was like “Oh, well, the real question have to come soon”.

Daniel Breitholtz: And now, the two of you are going to do the same thing to André. You’ll get some revenge at Backy, but on André instead.

Andre Burakovsky Interview

Daniel Breitholtz: We’ll start the interview right about now! [Claps] Andre, you’re from SKåne [region in south Sweden]. Do you like Zlatan [Ibrahimovic, world famous soccer star] who’s also from Skåne?

Andre Burakovsky: Absolutely!

Daniel Breitholtz: But you don’t look a lot like Zlatan..? I’d say you look more like Cristiano Ronaldo.

[Shows ugly teen picture of Ronaldo]

Andre Burakovsky: [Laughs] Um, okay. Thanks.

Daniel Breitholtz: If you would rank the players of the NHL.

[Long silence]

Andre Burakovsky: Like, 1-10 or what?

Daniel Breitholtz: Yes, if you would rank the players of the NHL.

Andre Burakovsky: Like one-by-one or by how good they are compared to back home or what?

Daniel Breitholtz: Just rank the players as you like.

Andre Burakovsky: The players of the NHL.. Uhh… They’re incredibly good players. I’ll have to rank them pretty high, 8-9 out of 10 for the most part.

Nicklas Backstrom: Ask him what is favorite animal is!

Daniel Breitholtz: What’s your favorite animal?

Andre Burakovsky: I think I have to say. Maybe a dog or a monkey!

Nicklas Backstrom: Ask him he thinks he can wrestle down a lion.

Daniel Breitholtz: If a lion entered this room, would you be able to wrestle it down?

Andre Burakovsky: No, I don’t think so.

Marcus Johansson: Ask him if he rode his bicycle to get here, because his hair looks a bit weird.

Daniel Breitholtz: Did you ride your bike here? Your hair looks a bit bushy.

Andre Burakovsky: No. No, I didn’t.

Daniel Breitholtz: Okay. Well. Hm. If been thinking about.. Does people commonly believe your the son of Pavel Buré? Since -skovsky means “son of” in Russian, and your name is Bure-skovsky.

Andre Burakovsky: Never heard that one before..

Daniel Breitholtz: So that’s not something..

Andre Burakovsky: No.

Daniel Breitholtz: What kind of car do you drive?

Andre Burakovsky: I drive a BMW M4.

Daniel Breitholtz: Do you feel like you’re going to chane car eventually or are you happy with this one?

Andre Burakovsky: I might change car pretty soon.

Nicklas Backstrom: We’ve heard that you’re saving for Movember, how do you think that is coming along?

Daniel Breitholtz: It’s Movember and a lot of players are growing a mustache. Are you?

Andre Burakovsky: I’m working on it.

Daniel Breitholtz: Oh, okay. [zooms in on André] Looks like a bit of a slow start.

Nicklas Backstrom: Ask him where he buys his clothes.

Daniel Breitholtz: Where do you buy your clothes?

Andre Burakovsky: I shop a lot at Tiger of Sweden. Now, when I’m over here, I shop a lot at Hugo Boss.

Daniel Breitholtz: Is that because you’re like “Tha baws!”

Andre Burakovsky: Exactly!

Daniel Breitholtz: Let’s see if we have any other questions. I think this is a pretty good interview so far. Very getting close to the truth.

[Nicklas and Marcus enter]

Daniel Breitholtz: These guys have asked all the questions.

Andre Burakovsky: I thought, “What the hell is this?!”

Daniel Breitholtz: I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry for asking all these weird questions!

Andre Burakovsky: That’s what I thought, “Who has told all this gossip about me!?”

Daniel Breitholtz: I’m sorry, André! Of course I know what number you wear on your jersey. The guys stood just outside and listened to everything we said and asked questions through me.

Marcus Johansson: Hell, we had all these questions but we didn’t know how many of them would be “below the belt”.

Andre Burakovsky: I thought to myself, “How the hell to these people know all this stuff?!”

Daniel Breitholtz: But didn’t you think “Who is this idiot asking all these stupid questions?”

Andre Burakovsky: Now, I thought “Nicke and Mackan must have told you so much gossip about me!” Making me look like an idiot!

Daniel Breitholtz: This was my big fear about this NHL-trip, if I was able to pull this off without getting my ass kicked by you guys. I made it clear to Nicklas, if they come after me, you have to get in here and pull them off me!