Monday Caps Clips

Your savory breakfast links:

• The word came down Friday afternoon - the NHL & NHLPA reached their agreement with the IIHF and the IOC for the League's players to participate in the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Huzzah. [NHL.com, Puck Daddy]
  • The agreement allowed the NHL to formally release the schedule for the 2013-2014 regular season... [NHL.com]
  • ... and the League formalized realignment with the introduction of the Pacific, Central, Atlantic, and Metropolitan Divisions. Sayonara, Division D (and/or Patrick ++); we hardly knew ye. [NHL.com, Puck Daddy]
• So hey, how 'bout that Caps skeddy? [Rink, WaPo, CSNW, 106.7 The Fan, Caps Outsider, DSP, RMNB]
  • More than just a new season - the Metropolitan Division awaits. [CSNW, Too Many Men on the Site]
  • Caps AGMDF reveals the secrets to scheduling a full season of hockey. [Monumental]
  • My personal favorite blog post of every shiny new season - the how-far-does-your-team-travel post. The Caps fare fairly well this year - modest mileage and seventeen back-to-backs. [On The Forecheck]
  • NBC and NBCSN have released their schedules as well - the Caps will get eleven games on basic cable and two on the national stage. [Puck Daddy]
  • What're the odds? Well, the team enters the season at 30-1, with this recommendation: "...place your largest Eastern Conference wager on the Caps." Alrighty then. [StatFox (sticktap to @ngreenberg)]
• Hockey in October at last! Here's the (US) Department of Labor's long, detailed look at the causes of and resolution to the Lockout of 2012. [Bureau of Labor Statistics]
• Speaking of schedules, the IIHF released the men's and women's ice hockey schedules for the Sochi Games, and the national teams are announcing their camps. [IIHF]
• Team USA:
  
  • Will meet at Kettler from August 26-27, but due to insurance and other considerations, no on-ice activities are planned. [WaPo, CSNW]
  • Who ya got? RAHJC looks to be a bit of a long shot in the early going. [USA Today, DFP, RLS]
• Team Russia:
  • Will meet in Sochi on August 23-24. [Russian Hockey Federation]
    
  • Olympic Ambassador Alex Ovechkin's ticket has been punched for quite some time, and now we know that Evgeny Kuznetsov has also received his invite for Team Russia camp. [Traktor Chelyabinsk]
• Team Canada:
  • Will meet in Calgary in the last week of August. [@JSportsnet]
  • The full camp roster will be announced today, but a surprise invite appears to be in the offing - Roberto Luongo, Carey Price and Mike Smith will likely be joined by ... Braden Holtby. [Eye on Hockey, NESN]
• Team Czech Republic:
  • Hosted their first camp last week in Kravaře. The invitees for this camp were largely the NHL contingent; head coach Alois Adamczik will be meeting with the Euro-leaguers later. [CeskaTelevize, and again]
  • Martin Erat and Tomas Kundratek attended, as did Michal Neuvirth, who was joined by fellow goalers Ondrej Pavelec and Detroit prospect Petr Mrazek. [Denik.cz, and again]
• We suppose these types of stories crop up 'round every Olympiad and every Olympic host venue, but the outlook for Sochi is ... concerning. [Sports on Earth]
  
• Peerless continues his look at "Drafting America's Hockey Capital," going position-by-position with the goalers and rearguards up first. [Peerless, Peerless]
• The Reading Royals announced they have re-signed old friend Nikita Kashirsky. [HockeyFights]
• Profiling the hopes-n-hockey-dreams of prospects Patrick Wey and Chandler Stephenson. [CSNW, and again]
• @Ovi8 owns. [CapGeek]
• Nick Backstrom is hosting his annual charity golf tournament today. His foundation has donated over 500,000 kronor (US $76,000) to the local children's hospital and funded two scholarships each year. Well done, Nicklas! [@Backstrom19]
  
• Finally, happy 45th birthday to Brad Schlegel. Er, that would be Calder Candidate Brad Schlegel.