They say a coach is only as good as the players he leads, but can the coach be worse than them? Does Bruce Boudreau fall into this category? The Washington Capitals are currently tied for first in the league in points, but we’ve seen them do this before, including winning the President’s Trophy last season. However, it has led to nothing other than early exits from the playoffs and a disappointing finish for Capitals fans.

Boudreau’s coaching resume includes strings with half dozen minor teams and winning an AHL Calder Cup trophy with the Hershey Bears in 2006. He also won the Jack Adams Award in 2008. He managed to turn the Capitals around after several seasons where Washington missed the playoffs beforehand. Despite these accolades, the Caps haven’t finished better than the second round under Boudreau’s leadership, and another season that doesn’t end with Ovechkin hoisting the Cup may be only a lost season, no matter what the positives are.

The Capitals have only played in four playoff series in the last three years, and each has gone to seven games. Considering the Capitals have finished first in their division each time, they theoretically should be making short work of first round matches and going deep into the playoffs, yet Boudreau hasn’t been able to match his regular season success after the fact, and it’s starting to wear on the fans in the nation’s capital.

Boudreau appears to be a case of “good coach, bad coach” wrapped up in the same man. To this point, he’s done a good job of pushing the memories of last April out of his players’ minds, but how he and his team battle those demons come next April may define his career as head coach of the Capitals – as well as if he’ll continue to hold that position once it’s all said and done.