Wednesday Caps Clips

Your savory breakfast links:

• Lars Eller joined the players’ informal training skate and provided a few thoughts on the trade, his role on the team, and his family’s move to Washington. [CSNMA, and again]
• Also in the house - a bunch of other Caps. [NoVa Caps]
• Oh hai there training camp schedule. You can put a big circle on September 23. [NoVa Caps]
• Crystal ballin’ the Caps’ blueline for 2016-17. [CSNMA]
• What to expect when you’re expecting Evgeny Kuznetsov to be elite. [Stars & Sticks]
• Statcasting the Eastern and Western conference standings based on goal differential. [TSN]
• World Cup roundup:

• Alex Ovechkin has been named Captain for Team Russia. Evgeni Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk will serve as the alternates. [NHL.com]
• It was a tough decision for Coach Znarok (between Ovechkin and Datsyuk), but ultimately the gold medal at the 2014 World Championship with Ovechkin wearing the C tipped the scales. [Soviet Sport]
• Philipp Grubauer received his official invite to Team Euro, coming in as a replacement for the injured Frederik Andersen... [Sport1.de, CSNMA, WaPo]
• ... and hopefully he arrived in time for this spirited team dinner:

• An early look at Team USA shows John Carlson on the top pair with Ryan McDonagh, TJ Oshie on the third line and Matt Niskanen perhaps rotating with Jack Johnson as the #6 and #7 defenseman. [CSNMA]
• Nicklas Backstrom and Filip Forsberg finally get a chance to play together under the Three Crowns. I know, I know. [svt.se]
• Backis will definitely be a loyal son of Sverige when he faces his once and future Caps teammates on the ice. [Rink]
• In somewhat unexpected news, Dr. Bjorn Waldeback has returned as Team Sweden’s top doc. He was sacked after the Claritin-D debacle in the Sochi Olympics. [Aftonbladet]
• Braden Holtby is suiting up for Team Canada for the first time since 2007, when he played a full nine minutes in a U18 tournament. [Sportsnet]
• Team Russia has Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov up top at even strength, and Dmitry Orlov as first pair defenseman. Ovi & Kuzya will also take PP1 minutes, and Dima is on PP2. [Soviet Sport]
• It’s all nice. Ovechkin has given this particular post-practice interview perhaps a time or three too many. [NHL.com]
• Day Two photos and video from Team Russia’s practice. [NoVa Caps]
• Finally, Eric Fehr turncoats 31 and Matt Cooke turncoats 36 today.

One more: