Friday Caps Clips

Your savory breakfast of champions links:

• The deadline for pending RFAs to file for arbitration passed at 5pm yesterday. Notably, Liam O’Brien filed for arbitration and Tom Wilson did not. Negotiations for a deal with term will continue for Top-Line Tommy. [NBCSW, WashTimes]
• Todd Reirden’s coaching staff is starting to take shape. We now know that Lane Lambert will not return, as he rejoins Barry Trotz as Isles associate coach. [NBCSW]

• Deep breath, everyone. The hardest work of the summer is past, and now we get to relax for a bit and enjoy watching the team reap its hard-won rewards. [Stars and Sticks]
• The season in review for:
• Alex Chiasson. [Rink, RMNB]
• Andre Burakovsky. [FiCP]
• Tom Wilson. [Peerless]
• Christian Djoos. [FiCP]
• How Nathan Walker got from there to here... [ESPN]
• ... and then back there again, as he had two goals and an assist and was named MVP of Team USA (!) in a 6-4 win over Canada at the Ice Hockey Classic in Sydney.

• A couple leftovers from DevCamp:
• ... Meet the Caps’ college men - Brian Pinho and Chase Priskie are graduated now and looking to the AHL, and Benton Maass and Steve Spinner are headed back to school. [NBCSW]
• ... Scrimmage photos. [RMNB]
• Lord Stanley’s travels continue - or rather, they are just beginning:
• Caps’ assistant equipment manager Dave Marin and his family had a relaxing day with the Cup... [@keeperofthecup]
• ... but now it’s off to Moscow and a date with Ovimania... [RMNB, NoVa Caps]
• ... after which it will head to the Czech Republic to meet Jakub Vrana and Michal Kempny... [RMNB]
• ... it will be in Sweden at Brynas on August 11 for Christian Djoos...
• ... and then Nicklas Backstrom will have the Cup at home in Gavle on August 12, where he will bring it to NickBack Arena and take pictures with all the youth hockey players... [Gavle.se]
• ... and the next day it heads to Rosenheim, Germany, where the newest member of the Colorado Avalanche will hoist it for family and friends. [@StarbullsRosenheim]
• A Capital Gazette reporter shares the story of Woody Leydig’s visit to their grieving and shellshocked newsroom, and how the Cup brought a tiny ray of sunshine to a group of survivors who desperately needed it. [Capital Gazette]
• Finally, we bid a fond farewell to Chris Bourque, who announced via Twitter that he will not be returning to Hershey for the 2018-19 season. His name is on three Calder Cups, a playoff MVP trophy, the League MVP trophy, and he is a stone-cold lock for the AHL Hall of Fame and a jersey retirement at Giant Center. Congrats and thanks for all the terrific hockey, CBo! [Chocolate Hockey, FiCP, NoVa Caps, Patriot-News]