Your savory breakfast links:
- Breakdown Day is in the books, as the Caps packed up their gear yesterday and parted for the summer – but not before meeting with the media one last time:
- In general. [DSP (bosses, players), CSNW]
- Check out lots of sad faces (and, um, whatever is going on with Mike Green‘s hair) in the team’s exit interviews over at Monumental Network.
- Okay, okay. Focus. Ignore the hair, listen to the message: Green and his teammates still believe. [CSNW]
- Breakdown day in photographic form. See you in the fall, boys. [WaPo]
- Checking in on the health of Brooks Laich and Martin Erat. [WaPo]
- Adam Oates uses the Bruins as an inspirational example for his team. Let’s just hope he left out all the diving, the gooning it up, the crazy goaltender… [CSNW]
- The captain made a splash yesterday with some pointed comments about the officiating in the playoffs… and today George McPhee wasn’t exactly refuting them. [WaPo, WashTimes, CSNW, Alex Ovetjkin, AP, Puck Drunk Love]
- A bit more from Alex Ovechkin before he flew off to Finland to play for Team Russia… [CSNW]
- …and a bit more on Ovechkin from Mike Ribeiro. [RMNB]
- Alex Ovechkin: Russian pinata. [Peerless]
- And he’s got the aches and pains to prove it. [RMNB]
- Today in “Egotistical, know-nothing blowhards talking to hear themselves talk” news:
- Our old friend John Tortorella dismisses the Caps’ complaints about the officiating as “whining” and claims it helped lead to the Caps demise. Well, Torts, if anyone would know what whining sounds like… [WaPo, Bog, CSNW, PHT, NJ.com, Newsday]
- Skip Bayless thinks Alex Ovechkin came up “small”. Which just reminds me I haven’t gone long enough without hearing what Skip Bayless thinks about anything. [Bog]
- Speaking of which… hey there, Mike Milbury. Long time no bloviate. It was such a nice two months, too. [Bog]
- Have anything to add, Michael Wilbon? Of course you do. [WaPo]
- And of course, the blowhard to end all blowhards: Tony Kornheiser. Out-of-touch, narcissistic, pompous, delusional, vitriol-spewing Tony Kornheiser. His target? Caps fans… because nothing says “I’m a hate-mongering dillhole” like spouting nonsense and needlessly kicking a fanbase while it’s down. Quick, someone throw their clunky jewelry at him. [Bog]
- So what’s next for the Caps?
- The organization still believes it has the pieces to win. [NHL.com]
- They just need to figure out how to turn the page on the latest disappointment and move forward. [WaPo]
- But they have to answer a few questions, first. And soon. [WaPo]
- They also need to sign a few of those pieces, including soon-to-be free agent Ribeiro – who may take less money to make a long-term home in DC. [WaPo, WashTimes, Puck Daddy, PHT]
- The Caps’ season in five awesome pictures… [Mr. Irrelevant]
- …and Caps’ fans grief in five stages. [WaPo]
- Was it the officiating, the goalie, the shot-blocking… or did the Caps just beat themselves? [Caps Outsider]
- Finally, happy 29th birthday to Tomas “Flash” Fleischmann.