The Washington Capitals Must Part Ways With Alexander Semin
Fred Poulin | Apr 29, 2010 | Comments 10
After a brilliant season during which he scored an amazing 40 goals, while adding 44 helpers for 84 points, in only 73 games, Alexander Semin was practically invisible during the past series against the Montreal Canadiens and their hot netminder Jaroslav Halak.
The 26 year-old right winger only managed two assists in seven games for Washington, despite being an offensive force during the regular season, playing alongside talented players such as Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green. The Russian-born player shot 44 times on net, an average of 6.3 times per game, without finding the back of the net. Semin played a lackluster peripheral game the whole series, shooting most of time from the outside and not rushing to the net to get rebounds and create scoring chances.
Alexander Semin, #28, had a tough series against Montreal. (Getty Images)
And most of the time, when he got a good scoring chance, Semin shot the puck in Halak’s chest instead of ripping it in the corners or in the five-hole like he did all season long. Alexander Semin, who signed a one-year $6 M extension back in December 2009, currently ranks no.224 among skaters in scoring this postseason.
If Semin is not scoring, he doesn’t bring a whole lot to the table, but it’s hard to bench such a talented player because of the great hockey skills he has, even if he is having a tough time generating anything offensively; it simply takes one high-skill play to create a goal and help you win a pivotal game. However, it did not happen for the Capitals and they are now on vacation after a 3-1 series lead. They only managed to score three goals in the past three games against a defensive corps that allowed over 30 shots on goal most of the season. During the series, Semin was softer than Kyle Wellwood draped in Charmin toilet paper and continued to shoot 50-foot wristers from outside the crease a la Ladislav Nagy (now in the KHL).
Two questions remain: Do the Capitals have too many one-dimensional offensive players like Semin, Ovechkin, Backstrom, Fleischmann and Green? Do they have to trade Semin to get more gritty two-players to complement Ovechkin and Backstrom?
This summer, the Capitals will have to focus on re-signing Nicklas Backstrom, another core member of the team who is not under contract for next season. They will also have to re-sign depth players such as Eric Fehr, Thomas Fleischmann, Jeff Schultz and Boyd Gordon, who are all restricted free agents at season’s end. We’ll have to wait as we don’t know yet if head coach Bruce Boudreau will keep his job for much longer (my bet is he won’t keep it for long).
I sincerely think the Capitals must part ways with their Russian-sniper, whether it’s next summer or before the 2010-11 NHL trade deadline as his one-year contract might attract interest by teams looking for scoring punch, despite his playoffs lapses. It’s hard to know what’s going on in Semin’s head as he doesn’t speak English, or does, but simply prefers not to try. Does Semin want to stay in D.C. and sign a contract extension? Or does he want to test the free agency market and sign a lucrative long-term contract and sit on his laurels for the upcoming years come playoffs time?
If we look at the package-deal of picks the Bruins got for Phil Kessel and the players the Thrashers were able to get from New Jersey for Ilya Kovalchuk and his expiring contract, one has to wonder if GM George McPhee would be best suited to trade the invisible winger for solid all-around players to surround the Capitals’ offensive core of Backstrom, Ovechkin and the Sweish sensation Marcus Johansson, who should make the jump to the NHL very soon.
As a Caps fan, what would you do with Semin?
Filed Under: Featured • Montreal Canadiens • NHL • Washington Capitals
Obviously McPhee hasn’t won a cup and therefore doesn’t know what type of team it takes. He, along with the rest of the scouts and folks that built this offensive-minded team need to be held accountable. Further, is it me or is Mike Green NOT a playoff defenseman? And, what happened to Theo? He had one bad game and he was never seen again. You might think he would have wanted to win against his former team and might have put forth more effort than the players on the ice.
Yours truly,
Longstanding and as usual a disappointed Caps fan…
Yes, they have to trade him and also part ways with Fleischmann and, dare I say, perhaps Green. At the least with Green he must be moved back to 5th or 6th in depth but of course stay on the powerplay. The way I see it they need grit up front and on the back end to protect the young goaltenders (assuming Theo isn’t back).
BUT, Boudreau was badly outcoached in the series. No adjustments of note to a poorly performing powerplay. No aggressiveness on the puck or the net. Laughably, waits until game 7 to bring in Walker and Erskine, the only scary defenseman on the roster, gets no play time. The penalty kill has been a disaster all season so no surprise there. Don’t know where the onus lay on this point – no hitting! They should have punished the much smaller Canadiens but instead were pushed around.
As to McPhee, hard to blame him given the wealth of talent in DC and Hershey. However, the late season moves were puzzling (Corvo, Belanger and perhaps Chimera as well going back a little further) because they didn’t address the glaring needs that were obvious to all. Walker was the only one who made sense based on his ability to elevate and play playoff hockey.
There is no next year; this was that year! As it stands they are a highly entertaining team but clearly don’t scare anyone. I hate to say it but the Penguins have built a team that can last if for no other reason than the entire roster hits and, quite frankly, hard enough to punish and strike fear in other teams.
Enough said.
They need real defensemen who can hit. I can think of 3 goals that were a direct result of Green not doing his job. I’ve been through too many seasons of them losing but this is the worse. I truly believed they could pull it off. What a fool I’ve been.
Concerning Mike Green, the Caps will have to keep until John Carlson and Karl Alzner are ready for full-time NHL duties, which is more likely to happen in 2011-12. As for Boudreau, he was obviously outcoached by Martin from game 5 and on. He was unable to get his special units going and find a way to beat Halak by changing his offensive strategy. It will be an interesting summer in D.C. for sure.
I see the arguments – but don’t understand how getting rid of a player who scores 40 goals and is capable of doing even better – who so clearly compliments your core players – and is the driving force in your second line – is a smart move.
Sure he’s not a media darling – but who cares. He shows up and he plays hard – and he’s a phenomenal all-around player.
You could get the exact same kind of trade deal with Green, who hasn’t even come close to holding up his end of the deal.
I guess Muscle Milk and Geico commercials count for more.
When you pay a player $6M per year you expect him to produce in the playoffs. I know Semin tried at times during the series against Montreal, but often, he would just shoot from the outside the defensive box instead of going to the net and take advantage of his booming shot.
I have felt this way since last summer.
Alex is now a known quantity, and what I know I don’t want on this team next April.
As far as trade return, I know Calgary may be shopping Iginla this summer. I think Semin as part of a package could get us a little more grit, and a little less “flash”.
Not sure what the rest of that package would have to be, but I think that’s the kind of direction we should look.
Personally, I wouldn’t panic on Green just yet. He’s still a young defenceman, and those offensive skills are rare. Admittedly I expected a lot more this year after last year, but I think in general it’s easy to give up on guys too early. They really just need one rugged, solid D to move everyone into their proper place in the lineup. Maybe by the end of next season Carlson and Alzner change that dynamic. I’d consider trading Semin to a Western Conference team, depending on what you could get in return. Yes, Bruce did get out-coached. I think he under-reacted because he wanted to be sure he didn’t overreact. In point of fact, you can’t just throw your regular season game out there in the playoffs and wait for it to work. You have to figure out how to beat the specific team your playing, not keep doing the same thing and expect different results. But maybe he learned that lesson too.
I agree on Green, thi kind of defenseman takes time to develop. He’s only 24 years old and we know that most defensemen don’t reach their peak until 27 or 28 y-o. They would really need that gritty defenseman to complement to likes of Schultz, Green, Alzner, Carlson and Poti.
The long-term signing of Nicklas Backstrom confirm what I said, don’t expect the Capitals to re-sign Semin on a long-term contract.