Your savory breakfast links:
● Alexander Semin met with his hometown Krasnoyarsk press corps and dropped some hints about his plans as he enters free agency. Or did he? [Transcript via RMNB, video clip via @IgorKleyner, infographic via PuckBuddys]
● Dmitry Orlov met with his hometown Novokuznetsk press corps and reviewed his first year in the NHL. [Sport-Nk.ru via GoogleTrans]
● Yesterday in year-end reviews:
○ …The forwards, part 1… [WaPo]
○ …the goalies… [Caps Outsider]
○ … Nicklas Backstrom… [Peerless]
○ … Karl Alzner… [CSNW]
○ … Keith Aucoin… [CSNW]
○ … and Jay Beagle. [RMNB]
● The week that was in Caps-land. [THW]
● Oh hai there goalie controversy? Michal Neuvirth wants back in. [WashTimes, PHT]
● Non-controversially, Braden Holtby and Joel Ward visited Ronald Brown Middle School in DC. [@WashCaps (video)]
● Traktor Chelyabinsk kicked off The Year of Kuzya by hanging Evgeny Kuznetsov’s sweater in the rafters at Traktor Arena on the eve of the KHL Entry Draft, which they are hosting. Also on Traktor’s calendar this year: the KHL All-Star Game. [RMNB]
● Stanislav Galiev and the Saint John Sea Dogs will meet the Shawinigan Cataractes tonight for the right to play the London Knights in the Memorial Cup Finals on Sunday. It’s a good thing the Sea Dogs have learned how to defend, since Shawinigan dropped six goals on Edmonton last night to eliminate them from the tournament. [NHL.com, Station Nation]
● Finally, we wish WTEM (now ESPN 980) a very happy 20th birthday. WTEM was DC’s first full-time sports talk radio station. Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin hosted a 3-hour retrospective yesterday. The don’t-miss segments: Steve Kolbe, Ken Beatrice, and Rich “Da Coach” Gilgallon. Related: How can it possibly be twenty years already?
