In the midst of trying to pull the Capitals out of last place, new coach Bruce Boudreau (2-1-1) has the challenge of finding enough playing time to let the young guys–and except for goalie Olaf Kolzig and a few free agents, they’re all young guys–develop to their potential. Boudreau has already won top marks from embedded blogger Mike Vogel for letting Steve Eminger play his second game of the season.

It will be interesting to watch whether Boudreau focuses more on developing the players who have already reached the NHL, or on bringing up the players who have helped him succeed at the AHL level. CSN commentator Craig Laughlin gave Caps fans nightmares of former coach Bruce Cassidy when he told us that Boudreau had put rookie of the year candidate Nicklas Backstrom on the team’s fourth line because he got to the bottom of the napkin he was writing the lines on and wondered who he had forgotten. Still, Boudreau redeemed himself in an interview during the same game when he told Al Koken, “all the players I’ve coached [in Hershey] are leaders, but obviously their role changes when they come up here.”

The Caps head into two games against divisional rivals this weekend without key forwards Chris Clark and Boyd Gordon. The team has recalled minor league standout Quintin Laing, but it remains to be seen whether they play him or take one of their regulars off the sidelines. We’d be very interested to see how Eminger, who makes highlight-reel passes, but doesn’t always cover his man on defense, would play as a forward.