Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I'm kind of excited about Eminger!

Eminger does not look excited at all though...probably the Caps uniform!

Ya know, it's strange, but I hardly ever read news about the Flyers. I usually just read blogs. But I've been reading news the past few days, hence the more newsy focus over here. Anyhow, all that aside, I gotta say I am pretty excited about Eminger after reading what he had to say to the press.

You can read the full interview/articles here and here. They are good, I promise.

Basically, it sounds like the Caps were deep on d-men, and just kinda didn't need him. He was a healthy scratch most of the year and never really got to develop. He also didn't get much feedback on what he needed to improve.

From Chuck Gormley at the Courier Post:

Eminger said he simply wants to establish his identity as an NHL defenseman. In Washington, Eminger said he was asked to be a defensive defenseman under Cassidy, an offensive defenseman under Glen Hanlon, and he didn't play much at all under Bruce Boudreau, who replaced Hanlon early last season as Capitals coach and used Eminger in just 20 regular season games.

"I'm not a one dimensional offensive guy," Eminger said. "There were a lot of different signals, and that led to not having my own identity. I think a player should be his own player.

"The frustrating thing is I really didn't know what the reason was (for being benched). I was pretty much a depth player and at 23 or 24 years old, I didn't think I was a depth player. I knew I wasn't a depth player."


Okay, so it sounds like we just need to define his role and play him in 82 games. I think we can do that. He sounds like he has a good attitude, and that can go a long way:

“I was really honored to be traded for a first-round pick,'' the 6-2, 217-pound Eminger said. “Now everything is up to me. I have to prove myself. I'm looking ahead to the challenge.''


Sounds good to me!

5 comments:

  1. Now that he is a Flyer, I guess I need to learn to spell his name correctly!
    I'll give him a chance, but I'm getting worried that we don't have enough LWs and too many RWs and so-so D guys when that is really where we need to focus. I bet a RW gets traded soon?!!? :(

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  2. Homer sure is busy this offseason. He picked up another D-man from Nashville... Janne Niskala.

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  3. Thanks for the tip Soph, looks like he got a friend for Kimmo!

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  4. And Steve, I haven't really looked at our forward situation. Everyone is always talking about getting defensemen, so I figured we were pretty much set up front. I'll have to investigate!

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  5. Yea I was just about to comment on the Janne Niskala deal, looks like Soph beat me to it.

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