Your savory breakfast links:
- Training camp gets underway on this, the Captain’s 30th birthday:
- Schedule and roster. [Caps Today, WaPo, CSNMA, NoVa Caps Fans, RMNB]
- Not much to see today, though, as Day One is off-ice and off-limits to media and fans. So don’t bother getting your nose prints all over the doors to the Caps rink.
- The rookies are returning from their tournament to participate in main camp, and AGM Ross Mahoney provided some player reviews and the news that Washington will likely host in 2017. [WaPo]
- New ice, new paint, new boards, new glass. Smells like hockey! [Caps OT]
- The preseason kicks off on Monday at Verizon Center vs. Carolina, and there will be free hockey regardless of the score at the end of regulation, with 3-on-3 overtime mandated by the League. [SportingNews, NHL.com, Caps Today]
- Also new – Fantasy sports outlet Draft Ops won the bidding to partner with the Caps, Wiz and Mystics to provide
lots of goodiesa fantasy sports lounge for their fans (and advertising on the Mystics’ jerseys). Draft Ops also becomes the “presenting sponsor” for all three teams’ training camps. So if you see some branding around Kettler or the Phone Booth, you’re in the know. [Forbes, WaPo, Legal Sports Report]
- There’s rather a large number of defensemen in the Metro Division. Only ten of ’em are good enough to be on this list. [Rink]
- There’s a lot going right for the Caps this season, hopefully:
- NHL.com’s Dan Rosen likes what he sees. [Over the Boards]
- T.J. Oshie could really shine here; just ignore Cheerless. #TeamFearless [Peerless]
- 30 pressing questions for 30 NHL teams – or at least 16 for the Eastern Conference. [Sun Media]
- A shapely Michael Latta took his training and conditioning srsly this summer and is ready to compete for an everyday assignment. [WaPo]
- It’s all come together beautifully for Brooks Laich. [DC Sports Bog]
- Jacob Trouba is a talented up-and-coming defenseman for the WinniJets, and there’s one forward he’d probably rather not face: “Ovechkin. Not that I don’t know what he’s going to do, but even though I know, he’ll still pull it off. That’s the scary part. He’s definitely a pretty special player.” [Sportsnet]
- The Rink wishes the happiest of birthdays to Alex Ovechkin, with whom we shared a rookie season in 2005 and with whom we have grown, prospered, exulted, agonized, celebrated, despaired, rejoiced, and always and ever appreciated, ever since. Every emotion that it is possible to experience in sports we have experienced with you, and ultimately we are left with a profound sense of gratitude – to have been given the great gift of your skill, your bravura, and your impossible charisma that built DC into a freaking Hockey Capital. As we prepare for our eleventh season together, we can only humbly say thank you Alex and await more wonders on the ice. С днем рождения!