According to his father, Bäckström "took over a pair of skates" from his older brother Kristoffer at the age of two. Young Bäckström put his first skates on inside, walking around on the floor inside, refusing to take them off come bedtime and his father stated that "they let him go to bed with his skates on", and that "those were his favorite things in the world." When Bäckström was three years old, "he could skate fully on his own. Like it was the most natural thing in the world," according to his father. His "latch onto" Kristoffer and his friends for "nightly informal games." Bäckström began playing for the local Valbo team when he was four, practicing daily from 5 to 6 p.m., then from after dinner until midnight. The "ice barn" in Valbo where he developed his hockey skills as a young boy has been renamed to Nickback Arena.