Season Preview: Steve Eminger

Rolling right along, we come to Steve Eminger. Eminger was a first round pick of the Caps in 2002, alongside Boyd Gordon and Alexander Semin. It may be hard to believe, but there was a time when Eminger seemed like the best of the Caps three picks in the first round of 2002 (the others being Alexander Semin and Boyd Gordon). Gordon seems to finally be on the verge of putting it together, and Semin made it back from his Russian exile while Eminger's development has stalled. On the verge of breaking through in early 2006, Eminger broke his ankle in a game against the Anaheim Ducks, and hasn't quite recovered yet. While struggling mightily at the beginning of the '06-'07 season, Eminger seemed to improve a lot in the second half of the season, just not in any consistent way. Playing alongside John Erskine did wonders for Eminger, and the two seemed to perform well together. Unfortunately for Eminger, Erskine was injured a lot. For Eminger to have a consistent role on the Caps night in and night out, he needs to learn how to perform like he is capable of every shift. Look for Steve to be on the Caps third pairing for most of the season until he performs like the Coaches know he is capable of performing.