Your savory breakfast links:
- The word came down Friday afternoon – the NHL & NHLPA reached their agreement with the IIHF and the IOC for the League’s players to participate in the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Huzzah. [NHL.com, Puck Daddy]
- The agreement allowed the NHL to formally release the schedule for the 2013-2014 regular season… [NHL.com]
- … and the League formalized realignment with the introduction of the Pacific, Central, Atlantic, and Metropolitan Divisions. Sayonara, Division D (and/or Patrick ++); we hardly knew ye. [NHL.com, Puck Daddy]
- So hey, how ’bout that Caps skeddy? [Rink, WaPo, CSNW, 106.7 The Fan, Caps Outsider, DSP, RMNB]
- More than just a new season – the Metropolitan Division awaits. [CSNW, Too Many Men on the Site]
- Caps AGMDF reveals the secrets to scheduling a full season of hockey. [Monumental]
- My personal favorite blog post of every shiny new season – the how-far-does-your-team-travel post. The Caps fare fairly well this year – modest mileage and seventeen back-to-backs. [On The Forecheck]
- NBC and NBCSN have released their schedules as well – the Caps will get eleven games on basic cable and two on the national stage. [Puck Daddy]
- What’re the odds? Well, the team enters the season at 30-1, with this recommendation: “…place your largest Eastern Conference wager on the Caps.” Alrighty then. [StatFox (sticktap to @ngreenberg)]
- Hockey in October at last! Here’s the (US) Department of Labor’s long, detailed look at the causes of and resolution to the Lockout of 2012. [Bureau of Labor Statistics]
- Speaking of schedules, the IIHF released the men’s and women’s ice hockey schedules for the Sochi Games, and the national teams are announcing their camps. [IIHF]
- Team USA:
- Team Russia:
- Will meet in Sochi on August 23-24. [Russian Hockey Federation]
- Olympic Ambassador Alex Ovechkin‘s ticket has been punched for quite some time, and now we know that Evgeny Kuznetsov has also received his invite for Team Russia camp. [Traktor Chelyabinsk]
- Team Canada:
- Will meet in Calgary in the last week of August. [@JSportsnet]
- The full camp roster will be announced today, but a surprise invite appears to be in the offing – Roberto Luongo, Carey Price and Mike Smith will likely be joined by … Braden Holtby. [Eye on Hockey, NESN]
- Team Czech Republic:
- Hosted their first camp last week in Kravaře. The invitees for this camp were largely the NHL contingent; head coach Alois Adamczik will be meeting with the Euro-leaguers later. [CeskaTelevize, and again]
- Martin Erat and Tomas Kundratek attended, as did Michal Neuvirth, who was joined by fellow goalers Ondrej Pavelec and Detroit prospect Petr Mrazek. [Denik.cz, and again]
- We suppose these types of stories crop up ’round every Olympiad and every Olympic host venue, but the outlook for Sochi is … concerning. [Sports on Earth]
- Peerless continues his look at “Drafting America’s Hockey Capital,” going position-by-position with the goalers and rearguards up first. [Peerless, Peerless]
- The Reading Royals announced they have re-signed old friend Nikita Kashirsky. [HockeyFights]
- Profiling the hopes-n-hockey-dreams of prospects Patrick Wey and Chandler Stephenson. [CSNW, and again]
- @Ovi8 owns. [CapGeek]
- Nick Backstrom is hosting his annual charity golf tournament today. His foundation has donated over 500,000 kronor (US $76,000) to the local children’s hospital and funded two scholarships each year. Well done, Nicklas! [@Backstrom19]
- Finally, happy 45th birthday to Brad Schlegel. Er, that would be Calder Candidate Brad Schlegel.