Thursday Caps Clips: Camps and Classics

Your savory breakfast links:

• What was unofficially official last week is now officially official: The 2015 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic is set for New Year's Day at Nationals Park. Huzzah! [Capitals, NHL.com]
  • The next date to circle on your calendars is Tuesday, September 23, when Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Braden Holtby will take the field at Nats Park with a host of team and league officials for the unveiling of the Winter Classic logo and unis... [WaPo, CSNW, SB Nation, DSP, NBC4]
    
  • ... so go ahead and speculate.  What do you want in a Classic sweater? [Icethetics, @CapitalsHill, RMNB]
  • How much are those tickets going to cost anyway? A look at past Classic prices is instructive... [Forbes]
  • ... and if you're buying on the secondary market, you'll most likely be going through Ticketmaster. Changes are coming for the team's season ticket resale policies, and some folks aren't happy. [RMNB]
• Lordy lordy, look who's forty... the Caps are commemorating their 40th season with a nifty patch and lots of goodies throughout 2014-2015. [Caps Today]
• But enough about the past. The Caps' future arrives at Kettler today:
  • Official Rookie Camp Guide. The schedule in the (linked) Guide gives today's start time as 4:15pm but the Caps' website sez 3:00pm.  You should prob'ly just go there now to be safe. [Caps]
  • Barry Trotz takes the helm for his first red-rocking Rookie Camp. Shorter Trotz - he and Hershey head coach Troy Mann are going to be taking a nice long look at Andre Burakovsky. [WaPo, Patriot-News]
  • Speaking of Burra, he's come a long long way since Draft Day 2013. [WaPo]
• The "informal" veterans' skates are getting mighty crowded.  The Captain returned to Kettler ice today and pretty much the whole squad is accounted for.  [CSNW]
  • The perplexing Troy Brouwer. [Peerless, NHL.com]
  • The charming Evgeny Kuznetsov. [Caps Outsider]
  • The soon-to-be re-bobbled Backstrom. [Ibid,]
  • The resolute Joel Ward. [CSNW (video)]
  • The oft- and unfairly-maligned Ovechkin. [Puck Daddy]
• iControl and iShare are not, surprisingly, new Apple products, but metrics that measure a team's efficiency in the neutral zone. Not surprisingly, the Caps have room for improvement. [Rink]
• Ranking the Metro middlemen. [Rink]
• Deepening the D-Line. [Dump 'n' Chase]
• Talking advanced stats and the Caps with Rob Vollman on your Morning Drive. [Capitals Voice]
• Happy 48th birthday to Craig Billington, happy 52nd to Tony Camazzola, and happy 64th to Gord Brooks.
• Finally, on this somber day, Bugsy Watson pays tribute to his friend and teammate, Ace Bailey. [Caps Outsider, with our piece on Bailey from earlier in the week here]