Caps Clips: Get Off the Bench

Your savory breakfast links:

• A group of current and former NHLers, including former Cap Joel Ward, have formed the Hockey Diversity Alliance to tackle the NHL’s ongoing issues with diversity and inclusion. [NBCSW, NYTimes, AP]

• A long but great read on how the NHL needs to do more than pay lip service - it needs to take action. [ESPN]
• The NHL, and the rest of the sporting world, will play a role in the fight for racial equality... and you’d best believe fans will notice those who fall short. [NBCSW]
• In a week that saw a number of NHL players speaking up, Braden Holtby’s statement was one of the strongest - something he saw as a necessity. [Caps, WaPo, NBCSW]

“I don’t think this time is a time to sugarcoat anything. I think it’s a time to look at ourselves in the mirror and really find how we can be better and how we can take responsibility for the past and learn from that to move forward.” - Braden Holtby on Friday’s conference call (via Samantha Pell/Washington Post)

• It’s not just words with Holtby, either. Yesterday he and wife Brandi launched “Get Off the Bench for Racial Equality”, an auction benefiting BLMDC and The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. [Caps, NHL, NBCSW, WashTimes, The Score, NoVa Caps]
• This was written after Devante Smith-Pelly announced he would not visit the White House and what taking a stand meant to black fans of a very white sport - as relevant today as it was two years ago. [Racebaitr]
• One fan’s experience with racism in hockey. [THW]
• With Reid Cashman on his way to coach at Dartmouth, might former Cap Brooks Orpik be a good replacement behind the Caps’ bench? [NoVa Caps]
• It’ll probably be a while before fans are in the building for hockey if and when it comes back; without fans, the players are going to have to create their own excitement. [AP]
• When fans do return to arenas, the fan experience is likely to be a very different one than what we’re familiar with. [AP]
• Predictions for how the Caps’ 2020 postseason might go. [StarsandSticks]
• How do the Caps stack up against their potential round-robin opponents? [NoVa Caps]
• A look at how the coronavirus and the shortened (or canceled?) 2019-20 campaign has impacted Braden Holtby’s free agency future. [NBCSW]
• Celebrating the awesomeness that is Alex Ovechkin (because frankly it’s always a good time for that). [StarsandSticks]
• It’s been two years since the Caps raised the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history... feels like just yesterday. [StarsandSticks]
• Reflections on the epic Eastern Conference Final between the Caps and Bolts, from the Lightning side. [TBL]
• Getting to experience that two years ago reminds us that should the Caps win again this year, it will still be sweet - even with an asterisk. [NBCSW]
• Making the case for the Caps to do just that. [THN]
• Tomorrow night marks the debut of a new NHL show that features celebrity chefs remotely teaching NHLers how to cook fancy food. Set the DVR, folks. [NHL]