Saturday Caps Clips: Saving Room for Decert

Your savory breakfast links:

• The League has cancelled all games through December 14 as well as January's All-Star Game. [Capitals, Puck Daddy, WaPo, WashTimes, DCEx, Backhand Shelf, PHT]
  
• More from the labor front:
  • Depending on who you want to believe, decertification is either "the likeliest way to see NHL [hockey] this year" or it would "likely lead to the end of the season." But just what the hell is "decertification," anyway? Learn up, kiddos. [CBC, Puck Daddy, mc79hockey, SportsNet, SportsNet, Backhand Shelf (and again), PHT, Freakonomics]
  • So close and yet so far away? [USA Today, CSNW, WashTimes]
  • Closer to home, Troy Brouwer's role as Union rep perhaps trumped his role as teammate as he took the opportunity to chastise a couple of fellow Caps for speaking out of turn. [Japers' Rink, WaPo, WashTimes, Backhand Shelf, CBS]
  • Karl Alzner took a much more diplomatic approach (because he's Karl Alzner), in a pair of interviews. [StarPhoenix, WashTimes]
  • Despite the frustrations expressed by some PA members, don't think that their resolve has lessened (even though it probably has). [NY Post, Puck Daddy]
  • Outspoken player agent Allan Walsh: "[W]hether we make a deal this year or not, is that Bettman will be gone because the players will refuse to deal with him going forward." [SportsPro Media]
  • To that end, Gary and Don - hockey or GTFO. [Globe and Mail, and if you missed Tom Boswell's piece on Fehr from the other day, unmiss it now]
  • And while it might seem that this is owners vs. players, it may in fact be owners vs.... owners? [Backhand Shelf]
  • Could anyone other than Don Cherry dictate write, "First, you unfeelin’ jerks.... [N]obody likes to be called a cancer or an idiot." [Star]
  • "[H]ockey players who think they should be paid like baseball and basketball players, despite the disparity in the NHL's U.S. TV money, need a reality check." [SportsNet]
  • How to hate on Da Commish. [Puck Daddy]
• The latest Cap to head to Europe is Mathieu Perreault, off to Finland to suit up for HIFK Helsinki. [WaPo, WashTimes, Hockey Shopped]
• Nicklas Backstrom is too good for the KHL. Lather, rinse, repeat. [RMNB (and again, with deets on the b-day boy's big day)]
• On the Adam Oates Error Era in Hershey. [LDN]
• And speaking of guys who have coached the Bears and then (presumably) the Caps, here's a good read on how Bruce Boudreau transformed the franchise when he took over for Glen Hanlon five years ago yesterday. [SB Nation DC]
• Reading's win streak? It goes to eleven. [Capitals Voice]
• Finally, what to get for the fan who has everything... except hockey, that is. [Deadspin]