Your savory breakfast links:
- The Caps have successfully drafted and developed good goaltenders in recent years, and will pay less than $5 million for their duo this season – something which has probably saved them some headaches. [CSNW]
- A breakdown of how Eastern Conference defense pairings stacked up against their team and the rest of the conference. [NHLNumbers]
- Dmitry Orlov, Stanislav Galiev and Semyon Varlamov, all training together. Reunited and it feels so good. [RMNB]
- You’ve seen the results of the work, but what’s it really like to track zone entries in a live game? (Fun fact: you don’t actually get to watch much of the game.) [FanPost]
- Seven years later, a look back at the fateful 2006 NHL Draft that brought Nicklas Backstrom into our lives. Nice drafting, Alex. [THW]
- With realignment comes the renewal of old rivalries – relive the good old days when it was possible to really, truly loathe the Islanders. [Peerless]
- A couple of former Caps with forgettable ends to great careers… although one of the most forgettable (and painful) ends to one of the greatest careers weirdly didn’t make the cut. Ahem. [Grantland]
- The Hershey Bears have added to their goaltending depth, signing ECHL playoff MVP Riley Gill to a one-year deal. [Bears, PennLive]
- Speaking of the Bears, the AHL preseason schedule is out and Hershey will open their slate of exhibition games against the Utica Comets. Which apparently is an actual real team. [PennLive]
- The season in review for a couple of Caps’ prospects in the OHL, Tom Wilson and Connor Carrick. [OHL Prospects]
- Carrick also survived the first round of cuts at Team USA’s WJC evaluation camp, along with fellow Caps’ prospects Riley Barber and Thomas Di Pauli. Congrats, boys! [NHL.com]
- #10 on a list of the most memorable Caps’ goals features a bloodied Alex Ovechkin, a confused Roman Hamrlik… and a simpler time right before Habs jerseys made us twitchy. [GM on a Couch]
- More on the potential repercussions for the Caps after Ilya Kovalchuk‘s return to Russia. [Caps Outsider]
- Not surprisingly, Mike Green and John Carlson pop up on a list of the 50 most valuable fantasy defensemen. [Too Many Men on the Site]
- Sure, this Ovechkin Nationals jersey is a jersey foul… but admit it, Nats fans, it’s gotten so bad that you’re wondering how he’d look batting cleanup. [DC Sports Bog]