This and that

Lots of things to talk about today. I'll start in the order of thoughts in my mind, which is both illogical and scary.
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Random thought #1. Steve Eminger: Oh man, do I feel bad for him these days. I know, I know, I was hard on him not too long ago. But I never thought that the Caps would totally screw him that way that they have. And make no doubt, they are screwing him. And please remember, I do have a lot of affection for Hair Gel.

So what brought this about? This tidbit from Tarik El-Bashir's online chat at the WaPo:

Washington, D.C.: Have you spoken to Eminger since the trade deadline? On deadline day you reported he was pretty sure he was leaving. And, now, he's still here and will be lucky to have played 1/4 of the games. Has he become more frustrated and bitter or his mood about the same?

Tarik El-Bashir: I speak to Steve a lot. He's actually one of my favorite guys to chat with.He definitely expected to be moved at the deadline, and is definitely not happy with his current situation. How could he be? A guy (Erskine) goes down, and instead of playing him, they call up Sami Lepisto.

Eminger is beyond frustrated at this point. Something tells me that on breakup day (whenever that arrives), he's going to have plenty to say.

No one can blame the guy for being frustrated right now. In November, I thought that Eminger was being ridiculous because he was for sure going to get more of a chance to play. Either through an injury to a teamate or simply giving him another shot, I thought that within another month Eminger would be fairly regularly rotated through games. That hasnt happened at all, and for all the talk that Eminger hasnt lived up to his potential (picked12th overall in 2002), he is definitely a top six D-man. In the few games he has appreared in, he has been solid. Not great, but not terrible. And its pretty tough to be great when you are mostly sitting in the press box and have no chance to get a rythym going.

I also cant help but look at Jeff Schultz's play and at times think that I would prefer Eminger. I think that Schultz is coming along, and has been pretty solid when paired with Tom Poti, but he is not a physical presence. And he isnt a good enough defenseman to be a skill guy like Brian Pothier quite yet. Some of the plays he makes leave me baffled (as do some of the plays he doesnt make). Not to mention, he is 6'6. For the love of God, gain a few pounds and start hitting some people.

I thought the Caps would move Eminger at the trade deadline, but now that they havent and show no interest in playing him at all, I cant help but feel that they should cut him loose. As Tarik points out, even with an injury in the lineup, they chose to call Lepisto up rather then give Eminger a shot. Lepisto has been playing well and ultimately the the team has to do what it must to continue its longshot run for the playoffs. But, give the guy a chance to play somewhere in the league. After all the work he has put into his career, he deserves better.

And my final thought on this -- the Caps have been strangely silent about the Eminger situation. No thorough explanation of why he isnt playing. Maybe that means they think his play speaks for itself (and its not saying a whole lot) but I find it a bit odd. I hope they are being more communicative with Eminger.
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Random thought #2:

So thrilling to see Sergei Federov score his first goal as a Cap. I'm not convinced that it was that thrilling for him (having scored plenty of goals in his lifetime, and a lot of them in the Stanley Cup finals) but I still feel excited everytime I see #91 flying around the ice.
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Other random thoughts:
-Sami Lepisto is a pretty slick hockey player
-Cristobel Huet is a great goaltender and Bob Gainey must be senile. Except for the fact that the Habs are at the top of the East, so maybe Gainey is a secret genius?
-Brooks Laich is gonna get pretty popular with the dudes too if he continues to play score so many goals
-Everyone is oohing and aaahing over this quote from Laich:

"If you want money, go to the bank. If you want bread, go to the bakery. If you want goals, go to the net."

No shit Sherlock.What I wonder is why it took someone so long to actually do it, after I heard Bruce Boudreau mention it so much in his media comments that I was ready to jump on the ice and stand in front of the opposing goalie.

Eminger on the "IR"

The Caps got to their 23 player roster limit yesterday by demoting Ben Clymer to the Bears (along with Boumedienne and others) and putting Steve Eminger on the IR.

Funny though, Hair Gel seems to be practicing at K-Plex:

Update:Steve Eminger, who is on injured reserve with a sprained ankle, is practicing. Looks okay to me.

Must be some injury.

If I was Eminger, I would be doing everything possible to impress during practice to make up for a decent (if not memorable) training camp, plus the last three seasons. Decent isnt going to cut it anymore when there are a bunch of other guys straining for your spot on the roster.

Hair Gel being traded?

Interesting bit from Corey:

Another guy who won't be there is Steve Eminger. This is significant because this is three exhibition games and counting without Eminger in the lineup. After tonight, he will be the only guy (besides Eric Fehr and Daren Machesney, who are nursing injuries) left in camp who hasn't played. Maybe there aren't conclusions to be drawn from this fact, but I certainly would not be putting a lot of money on Eminger being in the lineup for the Caps on opening night at this point.

Hm. I like Steve Eminger, but dude hasnt shown up...in three years. Coming into camp, my feeling on Eminger was that this was his last opportunity to show the Caps what he can do. I dont think he has achieved that, and I think that he must be expecting a trade by now.

Who doesnt like hair gel?

Mike Vogel has a nice interview with Steve "I heart hair gel" Eminger over at the Caps site. Eminger was made a qualifying offer by the Caps this summer, which makes me plenty happy. Vogel touches on what a lot of us think about Eminger -- he is young (23) and still learning but the talent is there. And for the record, Eminger is a native of Onatario. With such an impressive amount of hair gel use (the likes of which I have not seen since "Growing up Gotti") I had assumed Emmy was a New Jerseyan. Not so. An interview highlight:

The circumstances were somewhat out of your control, but think back to the end of February when they sat you out for that handful of games. That had to hurt you, I know you’re a proud guy and that had to hurt you sitting upstairs. Where was your head at then and where was it after you came back from that?

“It was definitely a tough time. For any player sitting out is an awful feeling. I couldn’t wait to get back in the lineup. I didn’t know when, and I didn’t know what to do because you’re [still] practicing. Your mindset is that you practice hard and you’re going to support the team and when you get the call you have to be ready to go back into the lineup. And when you get back into the lineup and you just never want to be back in that position. I had some thinking to do while I was out. I guess one of the lessons they were teaching me was that you never want to take anything for granted. You want to stay in this lineup and you want to earn this spot.”

Caps re-sign Eminger and Sutherby

From the Caps:

The Washington Capitals have re-signed defenseman Steve Eminger and center Brian Sutherby, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today. In keeping with club policy, financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Brooks Laich and Milan Jurcina both have arbitration hearings at the end of this month. I bet we will hear about a multi-year deal for Jurcina before then.

The Caps have also signed G prospect Simeon Varlamov to a three year entry level contract, but from what Tarik writes, Varlamov will probably be spending at least another year playing in Russia.

During a brief interview with goaltender Simeon Varlamov last night, I asked him why he wanted a clause in his contract that allows him to return to Russia next season. Here's what he said:

"Because there is such a provision in my contract, that means I want to play next year at home in Russia. I want to become tougher mentally and physically, and I can do that by playing another year at the highest level back home."