Thursday Caps Clips: World Cup Warmups Begin

Your savory breakfast links:

• Part III of our countdown of the Caps’ Top 25 Under 25. This installment covers numbers 10 thru 7. [Rink]
• The Capitals signed goaltender Drew MacIntyre to a PTO contract. [NoVa Caps]
• Say, what would a Dmitry Orlov/Matt Niskanen pairing look like? [RMNB]
• Marcus Johansson is back in DC and ready to dig in to a new season. [CSNMA, and again]
• Karl Alzner joined the Sports Junkies in-studio for their new CSN simulcast, and riffed on many subjects. [The length of the season, his summer adventures, and that time he and Beagle got fined for eating at Subway]
• World Cup exhibition matches begin today, with SWE @ FIN, CZE @ RUS, and North America @ Europe on tap. Full schedule (and teevee availability) at the link. [NHL.com]
• SWE @ FIN:
• “[T]here is rivalry,” says Nicklas Backstrom of his new linemate Filip Forsberg. But not between Nashville and Washington, necessarily. This is a Leksand/Brynäs throwdown. [dt.se]
• Sweden’s final practice in Gothenburg was attended by nearly 1,500 fans, who got treated to some powerplay fireworks. Nick Backstrom’s unit has Forsberg, Gabriel Landeskog, Erik Karlsson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Filthy. [dn.se]
• CZE @ RUS:
• Team Czechia is starting Petr Mrazek @ Russia today, and Michal Neuvirth will take the net on Saturday. [idnes.cz, Broad Street Buzz]
• Russia hasn’t named their goalie for this match yet, but signs point to Sergei Bobrovsky. [@TomGulittiNHL]
• “Red Machine - Made In Russia” is Sbornaya’s official slogan for this tournament. But they’re not able to use it too much - can’t interfere with the World Cup™ branding. [FHR.ru]
• North America @ Europe:
• North America has yet to name Connor McDavid its captain. [Sportsnet]
• Matt Murray looks to be the #1 goalie for Team North America but no confirmation yet as to whether he plays today. Could be Connor Hellebuyck.
• Also not much info on who will be in goal for Team Europe, but we’ll guess it won’t be Philipp Grubauer.
• CAN @ USA:
• The Canada homers at NHL Network interview Braden Holtby about being a goalie for Team Canada and being shot on at practice by Canadian skaters and where does he think he ranks among the other Canadian goalies on Team Canada and well... you can see where this is going. Also, Capitals and playoffs and yeah. [NHL.com (video)]
• Carey Price gets the Canadian net on Friday in Columbus, then Braden Holtby and Corey Crawford will split duties on Saturday in Ottawa. [TSN]
• Why Team Sweden is the team to beat. [ESPN]
• Ranking the bluelines. [WNST]
• Russia is hoping its forwards find more chemistry than they were able to muster in Sochi. [WCH]
• Finally, happy 38th birthday to Marco Sturm, who just coached Team Germany back into the Olympics (with a bit of help from Philipp Grubauer).