Your savory breakfast links:
- Breaking down the Caps’ system of cycling low, getting the puck to the point, and firing through traffic. [Rink]
- All the All-Star tidbits you can stomach:
- Alex Ovechkin will make yet another well-earned trip to the All-Star Game… but a few of his teammates will not, and deserve to be. [Rink, Yahoo!]
- A slew of injuries have opened up some spots that could easily be filled by one of those Caps – that is, if they’re okay with cancelling vacations at the last minute to do so. Ha. Ha ha. [THW]
- Former #1 overall draft pick Ovechkin could go high in tonight’s draft. He may just make it in this business yet! [CSNW]
- Forget the draft; East vs. West is the format that’s best. [Stars and Sticks]
- Ranking the events in tomorrow’s All-Star skills competition, with a somewhat unhealthy dose of hatred for the teeny, tiny nets. But they’re so cute! [Puck Daddy]
- Caps’ GM Brian MacLellan talks about the Caps, their progress this season and more. [Dump ‘n Chase, CSNW]
- BMac also had some updates on Dmitry Orlov, whose status should become a bit clearer soon. [WaPo]
- More on the State of the Caps’ Union. [Along the Boards]
- Braden Holtby‘s background of riding the bus in the AHL has helped shape him into the goalie he is today. [WaPo]
- This summer could be an eventful one in DC, with a slew of Caps headed for some form of free agency – but a lot of them want to stick around. [WaPo]
- Time to hand out a report card for the Caps’ first half. [Pressbox DC]
- Scoping out what the rest of the season could have in store for the Eastern Conference. Which apparently includes more Alex Ovechkin-bashing. [NY Post]
- The Puck Buddys have a nice little chat about hockey and hockey-related things with the Finnish ambassador. Teemu 4 ever! [PuckBuddys]
- Nostalgia time, part 1: Walk down memory lane and remember Caps’ legend Dale Hunter. Er, the player version, not so much the coaching one. [Stars and Sticks]
- Nostalgia time, part 2: Now remember a time when a piddling little three-game slide would have been welcome. [WaPo]
- What if the season ended today? [THW]
- The odds are in the Caps’ favor to make the postseason… but there’s still a 5.6% chance they don’t make it, so everyone go outside, turn around three times and spit. DO IT. [SI.com, Business Insider]
- Ovechkin is creeping up in the goal-scoring race yet again, in large part because he shoots the gosh darn puck. [THW]
- Powerful rankings of power. [Philly.com]
- Caps fans made a giant ice cheetah head in honor of Jason Chimera, because… well, um, Caps fans are weird. [WaPo, SI.com]
- Finally, happy 54th birthday to Timo Blomqvist, and happy 36th to Scott Hannan,