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- Alex Ovechkin arrived in Sochi…
- … as the face of the games. [Globe and Mail]
- … under a tremendous amount of pressure. [WaPo]
- … at his charismatic, fun-loving best. [USA Today, AP, Sporting News]
- … with Sidney Crosby (because of course) and amidst much fanfare. [Sportsnet, WaPo]
- … jet-lagged. [ESPN]
- … with the most Alex Ovechkin skates ever. [WaPo, RMNB]
- … and looks likely to start out on a line with Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Semin. Um, wow. [PHT]
- … with people already wondering how this tourney will impact the hockey he still has to play once it’s over. [Grantland]
- … and there’s even more. [RMNB]
- Before the Caps captain headed off, his coach gave him some sage words of wisdom. [NBC4]
- There are other Caps in Sochi receiving a bit less of the spotlight, including:
- John Carlson, who’s doing New Jersey proud… [NorthJersey]
- … can finally focus on the Olympics (instead of, you know, the team that will pay him $4 million this year) … [WashTimes]
- … and looks to be partnered with Ryan McDonagh for now, which sounds like a terrific twosome. [@cmasisak22]
- Nicklas Backstrom spent yesterday’s practice between Daniel Sedin and Loui Eriksson, while Marcus Johansson looks he’s going to have a tough time breaking into the lineup. [@HeleneStJames]
- Martin Erat, who spoke with Mike Vogel about his season, the Olympics and his family’s forthcoming addition, before heading out. [Monumental (video)]
- Previews and Predictions:
- The Caps make their picks and many of them apparently don’t realize that a lot of State Department employees are fans of theirs and can probably make lives easy or hard. [RMNB]
- Conventional wisdom says Group A will come down to the U.S. and Russia, while Canada should cruise in Group B and expect Sweden to do the same in Group C. [NHL.com, NHL.com, NHL.com]
- There are (or will be) as many Caps in Turks and Caicos as there are in Russia. (How nice does that sound today?) [CSNW]
- Shifting the focus from the Olympics back to the Caps, their task ahead is similar to that of Carolina, so take a look at the teams with whom both are fighting for playoffs spots. [Shutdown Line]
- Speaking of that task ahead, we’ve been tweeting about 92 points as the magic number for a while, and that’s looking like probably the minimum it’ll take to get in. [CSNW]
- Ovechkin is one of the top “Young Guns” in history, alongside guys like Crosby, Gretzky, Lemieux and Kiefer Sutherland as Doc Scurlock. [hockey-graphs]
- Season-ticket prices are going up for most holders, and if you don’t understand why, take an entry level economics class. (Also, Winter Classic.) [WaPo]
- Caps/Pens hate extends well beyond Caps/Pens. [THW]
- In case you forgot, the next professional hockey game played at Verizon Center won’t feature the Caps. [NYT]
- Julien Brouillette returned to Hershey with impressive stories to tell. Great stuff. [Patriot-News]
- Checking in on prospects’ prospects through January. [THW]
- From Bobby to Alex Carpenter. [WashTimes]
- Happy 37th birthday to Dwayne Hay, happy 60th to Brian Kinsella, and happy 66th to Lew Morrison.
- Finally, a bit of sad news from the weekend, as the Caps’ first captain, Doug Mohns, passed away. RIP, Diesel. [Boston Globe, Greatest Hockey Legends]
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