Saturday Caps Clips: Skating Out of the Gate

Your savory breakfast links:

• Weighing the importance of strong campaigns from a couple of Caps, roster questions abound, just how "100%" is Brooks Laich and more in this week's Mailbag. [Rink]
• Delving deeper into the what-if scenario of a Caps team with Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. [Rink]
• Training Camp 2014 is off and running:
  • Check out the schedule for all three groups as the second day of camp gets underway. [Caps Today]
  • Players, coach and GM alike all met with the media to talk about the first on-ice day. [Monumental video (MacLellan, Trotz, Green, Backstrom, Niskanen, Chimera, Peters, Alzner, Wilson, Orpik)]
  • Get a look at the sights and sounds from Barry Trotz's first day of camp. [Monumental video, Patriot-News (pics), RMNB (pics)]
  • Day One involved a lot of battling and a lot of skating, both of which were designed to shake off the rust that built up over a long, long summer. [Dump 'n Chase]
  • And a lot of skating means a LOT of skating, as the players were put through a grueling skating test at the end of a tough practice - both to show fitness levels and teach lessons about overcoming adversity. [Dump 'n Chase]
  • More on that exhausting first day for the boys. [WaPo, CSNW, Patriot-News]
  • After a season and a half of experimentation on the right wing, Ovechkin is back on his familiar lefthand side (for now), where Trotz believes he is more dangerous. [NHL.com, WaPo, CSNW, AP]
  • Storylines and other things to watch at this year's training camp and beyond. [WaPo, The Score, Capitals Outsider]
  • Tom Wilson is gradually getting back on the ice, but after breaking his ankle over the summer, he's not about to try and rush his recovery. [WaPo, CSNW, WashTimes]
  • The latest to join the Capitals' goaltending ranks, backup Justin Peters is ready for a fresh start with his new team. [CSNW]
  • Brooks Orpik in a Caps' jersey makes sad Pens fans sad. Awww. [Pensblog]
• Trotz is just one of a handful of new coaches looking to bring change to their inherited teams. [CBS Sports]
• New GM Brian MacLellan knows that after a season of disappointment and a summer of upheaval, expectations are high around the revamped Caps. [WaPo, CSNW]
• The Caps' power play is pretty lethal, and one of the biggest reasons why wears the number 8 on his back. Justin Bourne breaks down the nuclear bomb that is Alex Ovechkin. [The Score]
• Ranking the advanced stats All-Stars of the Ovechkin era. [BrooksLaichyear]
• Depth on the right wing and on the blueline could render a couple of current Caps as trade bait later in the season. [SI.com]
• Taking a look at the offseason for the Caps. [The Score]
• They may not be Cup contenders quite yet, but the Caps have gradually moved up the ladder to maybe possibly being able to perhaps compete for a playoff spot! Hooray! [ProIceHockey]
• Fantasy hockey geeks: you may want to stockpile Evgeny Kuznetsov and a few of his fellow Caps for your squad. [Yahoo!, The Score]
• The Caps acquired goalie Eddie Pasquale at the trade deadline to bolster their netminding depth in Hershey - but his delayed recovery from offseason hip surgery is making his availability a growing question mark. [Patriot-News]
• Pretty hilarious translation of a translation, as rookie Jakub Vrana gets enlisted to do some interpreting for fellow Czech Vitek Vanecek. [RMNB]
• Just where does Ovechkin's rink-shattering, goal-scoring NHL debut rank among professional sports debuts? [Camp des Recrues]
• Finally, happy 64th birthday to Bill Riley.