Caps Need to Embody Boudreau More

While the beginning of the season has been impressive, there's still a way to go before the Caps develop the consistency needed to be a perennial Stanley Cup contender. For inspiration, they need to look no further than Coach Bruce Boudreau.

In today's brilliant column, Mike Wise reminded us all about all the obstacles Boudreau encountered during his journey and why his troops should follow him more. It all comes down to hard work. Those that never take a shift off, remain hungry and never take anything for granted are the ones that will lead the team.

That's one of the main reasons why Alex Ovechkin is an elite player. He always works hard and won't accept anything but the best. Ditto Mike Knuble, Brooks Laich and Brendan Morrison. While there are others on the team that also fall into this category (Eric Fehr), one that has started to get it recently is Tomas Fleischmann.

Over the last year, the man they call Flash has started to go to the net more and really do whatever's needed to help the team win.

"The Rangers have a really good goaltending and defense, so you have to crash the net and find the loose pucks there," Fleischmann said during last spring's playoff series.

It's a sentence that surely made Boudreau smile and one that shows that Flash is somebody to keep around. It's also an example that others should follow. And another reason why Ovechkin is so great: because the team comes first.

You can posses as much skill as anybody in the league, but until you put the team first and never stop working, you will not be an ideal player for the Caps. And that's the biggest reason why Boudreau is the perfect coach for the red, white and blue.