Your savory breakfast links:
- Congrats are in order for Capitals GM Brian MacLellan, who was named a finalist for the NHL General Manager of the Year Award. The other finalists are Jim Nill from the Dallas Stars and Jim Rutherford of the Pittsburgh Penguins. [Rink, NHL.com, WaPo, CSNMA, Puck Daddy, RMNB]
- The year in review for:
- Jay Beagle… [Rink, RMNB]
- … Andre Burakovsky… [Peerless]
- … and Karl Alzner. [Stars and Sticks]
- A look back at Alex Ovechkin ‘s age-30 season… [WaPo]
- … and the case for trading him. Waitwhat? [ESPN $]
- … srsly? Trade Alex? Nah. That’s just clickbait. [CSNMA (video)]
- Mike Richards brought excellent defensive skills to the team. But his offense never got going. [WaPo]
- Capology – It’s time to take out the shopping list (and the budget.) [CSNMA, and again]
- Elliotte Friedman had his 30 thoughts and the Caps are in a few of them. [Sportsnet]
- World Championships update:
- The quarter-final games are today. Russia-Germany and Canada-Sweden both drop pucks at 7:15 Moscow time. [IIHF]
- George McPhee is the GM of Team Canada, and he reveals that he and Ovi texted a bit when AO8 got his 500th goal. [sport-xl]
- The Russians will be facing goalie Thomas Greiss – and Germany head coach Marco Sturm . [championat.ru]
- Sweden has had a bad time of it in these Worlds, and this next game vs. Canada may be Per Marts’ last as head coach. [unt.se]
- Some Czech hockey fans have been manually tracking Corsi. Here’s their defenseman chart. [PPP]
- AHL Conference Finals update:
- Eastern conference preview. [Sportsnet]
- It’s gonna be a battle on the blueline. [Patriot-News]
- Minneapolis is pretty excited for Travis Boyd . [star-tribune]
- The Memorial Cup Tournament kicks off Friday – Caps prospect Tim McGauley and the Brandon Wheat Kings face the Q champs Rouyn-Norada Huskies on Saturday. [PPP, Sportsnet]
- Former Caps bench boss Glen Hanlon has a new gig as GM of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants. [vancitybuzz]
- Finally, с днем рождения to Eвгений Kузнецовva. He turns 24 today.