Laissez les bons links rouler:
- WaTimes on Staffan Kronwall (quick thought: plucked so that GMGM could have a piece to trade old buddy Brian Burke?); WaPo on Nicklas Backstrom.
- Mike Wise writes about "self-anointed puck purists." Interesting. [WaPo]
- Post-game quotes from Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, Sergei Fedorov and Alex Semin following Sunday's game. [OFB]
- The Caps rescued Tomas Fleischmann, who was apparently otherwise doomed to be a Detroit Red Wing (gasp!) for his entire career. [USAToday]
- "If Pronger was on the backline of the Washington Capitals, it might be unfair, considering the jump-up skills of Mike Green and the neutron bomb known as Alexander Ovechkin." Love me some "unfair." [OC Register]
- Buy or sell Joe B. and Locker as the seventh-best broadcast team in the League? [Illegal Curve]
- Dave Hodge is the latest to gush over AO. [TSN.ca]
- Power rankings are out, with the Caps holding at third at The Hockey News, up one to second at CSBSports.com (where "Jose Theodore continues to look like a weak link"... yawn), up one to fourth at SportingNews.com and at Sportsnet.ca, and... up one to Numero Uno at ESPN.com: "Now Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals can wave down at the rest of the league below." Damn.
- In the history of smack talk, no superstar hockey player has ever been trashed as thoroughly by the brother of an All-Pro tight-end than Sidney Crosby. [Cooley]
- Speaking of Sid, if my team was currently outside of the Conference's top eight teams, I'd probably want my captain looking forward, not backwards. [Post-Gazette]
- The Junks (at least one of 'em) are on the bandwagon. Donkeys. [Junkies]
- One of the cool things about living in D.C. is you never know what dirtball might be making improper use of Caps tickets. [AP]
- Apparently, the Brendan Witt trade watch is on. [NYI Point Blank]
- Speaking of trades, SCoC has the lowdown on Erik Cole and Jordan Leopold. [SCoC]
- This has nothing to do with hockey, but it's damn cool. [Best Week Ever]
- NHL Network has a "big fancy Miracle retrospective" planned for tonight, but we still chuckle at The Onion's take. [Puck The Media]