Steve Eminger

'07-08 Stats                      Age (on October 1): 24                  Contract: RFA

'07-08 Season Report

Eminger's season, which began so bleakly, turned into one of the feel-good stories of the postseason. And he had a heck of a playoff beard going as well -- my favorite on the team.

After being limited by injury during training camp, he quickly fell down Glen Hanlon's depth chart. Bruce Boudreau's arrival did little to elevate Eminger's spot in the lineup. As injuries began to mount, it became evident that Eminger was going to be used as the 7th defenseman.

The intriguing thing about Eminger is that the Caps won when he was in the lineup (17-8-1 record.) His play was also more consistent than that of guys like John Erskine and Milan Jurcina, though they got a jersey ahead of Eminger more often than not. In the playoffs, he was finally rewarded (with help from a Schultz injury) with significant playing time. His +2 rating was tops among Caps defensemen in the postseason and he was the only one to score a goal from the blue line whose name was not Green.

After such an inexplicably disappointing start to his season, Eminger proved himself worthy of a job as a top six defenseman.

Intangibles

Despite the mystery shrouding Eminger's absence from the lineup, he remained tactful about the situation. When given the chance, he did his best to fit in and once he got back into the flow of things he performed exceptionally well.

The fact that he handled the entire situation so maturely bodes well for him returning to the Caps next year. But other teams also saw that and it may actually increase his value.

It would be great to see him return with a guaranteed job next season, preferably right here in Washington.

Future Fit

Eminger is restricted and would require a $1.1 million qualifying offer to retain his rights. He was no doubt upset with the way the season went, but the Capitals are the only team he knows and I think his play was good enough to persuade McPhee to match any reasonable offers from other teams.

Signing a pair of other RFA defensemen (Green and Morrisonn) is perhaps a greater concern. And with Karl Alzner set to be given every chance to make the lineup out of training camp, Eminger's services may be deemed expendable if Kevin Lowe extends one of his ridiculous contract offers to Emmy. But other than that, there is a fair chance that he will be back, much more so than it was a couple months ago.