Your savory breakfast links:
- Barry Trotz isn’t looking to change Alex Ovechkin‘s game – he’s just looking to tweak it, while letting him do what he does best. [Globe and Mail]
- Meanwhile Darren Dreger thinks that Ovechkin is bad at defense and a coach-killer and that he needs to buy in or the Caps won’t improve and oh hey look I have narrative Bingo. [TSN1050 (audio)]
- But how can Ovechkin buy in to what Trotz is selling if “[f]or too many years, Ovechkin has tuned out coaches”? Going to need a new Bingo card… [XN Sports]
- News and notes from the final day of Caps rookie camp:
- Hear from the coaches and players. [Monumental video (Trotz, Korn, Copley, Vanecek, Rinkside Update/Troy Mann)]
- While he’s a longshot to make the roster this year, 2014 draftee Jakub Vrana is hoping to use his first training camp – and the preseason games that accompany it – to find out what he’s made of. [CSNW]
- All that remains of camp is the now-annual rookie game, as the Caps kids head up to lovely Voorhees, NJ to take on the Flyers‘ prospects. Game starts at 3:00, and John Walton’s got the call. [Dump ‘n Chase, BSH, Courier-Post Online, NJ.com]
- The Caps have plenty of young talent in the pipeline, from the CHL to the AHL to Europe. [Hockey’s Future]
- A bevy of blueliner banter:
- John Walton chats with new assistant coach Todd Reirden, who has the unenviable task of sorting out the Caps’ suddenly deep defense. [Capitals Voice]
- Checking in with one member of that defensive corps, Nate Schmidt, as he talks about the competition for roster spots and his work with Defending the Blue Line. [BrooksLaichyear]
- Poor Jack Hillen… if he didn’t have bad luck, he’d have no luck at all. The latest? A staph infection in his knee over the offseason. [WaPo]
- After breaking his wrist and undergoing surgery this summer, Dmitry Orlov is back on the ice and easing his way back to preseason shape. [WaPo]
- Also back on the ice? John Erskine, who rounds out the veteran crew, with only Tom Wilson yet to make an appearance in DC. [@ChuckGormley]
- Great feature on new goalie coach Mitch Korn, his infamous props, and his true passion – teaching the next generation of goaltenders. [WaPo]
- There are a number of unsigned veterans floating around this (and every) fall, but don’t expect any of them to show up at Kettler this weekend. [CSNW[
- Who has the best contract in the NHL? Here’s a hint: he’s Swedish, he’s uber-talented and he suffers from the occasional bout of hay fever. [THW]
- Nothing Caps-related, but Elliotte Friedman‘s 30 Thoughts is back (with a new home) and has some interesting notes on changes to goal reviews this year. [Sportsnet]
- Previewing the 2014-15 season for Jason Chimera… [Peerless]
- … Eric Fehr… [Peerless]
- …and Evgeny Kuznetsov. [Stars and Sticks]
- HBO may be out of the Winter Classic game, but the NHL has found a new reality-show partner for the lead-up to Caps-Hawks (and the Sharks–Kings) in Epix. Which is apparently a real channel. [WaPo, Puck Daddy, SBNation, The Score, Second City Hockey]
- We all love getting a glimpse of what happens behind the closed doors of the locker room, but Barry Trotz isn’t so sure that some of it shouldn’t be kept off of camera. [CSNW]
- Caps’ 2011 draft pick Patrick Koudys is entering his senior year at Penn State – and while he’s focused on his goal of playing pro hockey, his education isn’t taking a back seat. [PSU]
- Finally, happy 25th birthday to Braden Holtby and happy 57th to Koach Korn.