Your savory breakfast links:
- So it was all a big joke. Ha ha? [ESPN.com]
- Of course, that doesn’t stop some writers from speculating that there’s trouble brewin’ between the Caps and their franchise player. Silly. [The Star]
- In the other news of the day, Michael Nylander cleared waivers and George McPhee announced that… he’ll talk about it today… [Caps365 (video)]
- … which means it’s time to see who’s got sources. The leader in the clubhouse? Tarik El-Bashir (who did a great job all day at CI) with his Dynamo Minsk nugget.
- Unrelated, one would assume, Minsk is the team by which Glen Hanlon was just recently canned. [FanShot]
- Only one U.S.-based team is ahead of the Caps in season-to-date paid admissions. Amazing. [Ted’s Take]
- And that’s with the Caps being a great bargain. [WTimes]
- Speaking of the Times, big shake-up over there yesterday that had better not impact our hockey coverage. [Washington Post]
- A new batch of power rankings are out with the Caps up three spots to fourth at The Hockey News, up one to second at The Sporting News, up three to second at the L.A. Times and holding at fifth at TSN.
- Mike Knuble is a fab puck deflector… [Behind The Net]
- … a skill that helped him net Hockey Night’s First Star for the weekend. [CBC]
- Alex Ovechkin, Mike Green and Boyd Gordon filmed a quick message for the
ladiesfans on Saturday night. [GreenLife52.com] - Semyon Varlamov is “fighting for the 3rd goalie spot” for the Russian Olympic Team. At this point, you’ve got to say he’s got a worse chance to win that fight than Matt Bradley has to win his next tilt (and Brads is currently riding an 11-fight winless streak, per HockeyFights.com). [@dchesnokov]
- “Tomas Fleischmann” and “fantasy” together in an article that doesn’t use “Bruce Boudreau” to link the two. [ESPN]
- Speaking of Gabby, if there’s one thing we’d like to see more of in his “Behind the Bench” segment, it’s specifics about the current team. We get our wish this week, and you’ll never guess about whom he gushes. [Capitals]
- Elliotte Friedman‘s weekly column is a must-read – click for the Alex Semin zinger, stay for the knowledge. [CBC]
- Four American Caps honor the troops. [Capitals, Caps365 (video)]
- The Caps have three of the top 19 players in the “Three Stars Standings.” [NHL.com]
- From the “No [Stuff]” file, the Caps are D.C.’s Best Team. [Express Night Out]
- Peter Bondra‘s on the list of next year’s first-time-Hall-of-Fame-eligible players. It would be a pretty major surprise if he was elected. [Slam!]
- Bear Tracks! [LDN]
- On this date back in 2001, the Caps traded Trevor Linden and a second round pick in 2002 to Vancouver for a 2002 first round pick with which they selected Boyd Gordon and a 2003 third rounder (that the Caps moved to Edmonton for Mike Grier and which the Oil used on Zack Stortini).
- Finally, happy 53rd birthday to Greg Carroll.