Player Discussion Alex Semin Thread

[VaCaps Fan]

What’s your guys opinions on Ovi’s young gun running mate?

Click to read more...

 

[twabby]

Criminally underrated and over scrutinized in DC. He was legitimately one of the top 5-10 players in the NHL from 2008 to 2011 during his peak, and then his career steadily went downhill after suffering numerous injuries including a concussion. If he wasn't as shy with the media then I think people would have been a lot fairer in assessing him.

Also I'm preemptively shutting down any talk of him not giving enough effort, so please take that talk to the forum for babies.

 

[895]

Great player and great personality. The original Kuzy


Also he gets way too much hate for the bongos thing. It doesn’t even make sense. Staal is the guy who got his ass kicked by the bongo player yet no one makes fun of him.

 

[marcel snapshot]

Always enjoyed watching him play. Greatest wrister I’ve ever seen, and that includes Sakic. Underrated 2-way game. Dale Hunter seemed to like Semin - his minutes didn’t suffer under Dale the way Ovie’s did. He got pilloried a lot because, like Kuzy, he made really hard, sensational things look easy - so people just assumed he should be able to do it all the time. Just because you’re gifted doesn’t mean that the special stuff you do is easy

 

[itsjustsurvival]

Was always funny that on a team with the greatest goal scorer, he was the best shooter. Deadly wrist shot off either foot, off balance, didn't matter. Great slap shot too. I still laugh every time I see the clip of him beating Tim Thomas from the neutral zone.

As flawed as the overall team was at the time, we were spoiled to have Semin, Ovechkin, Backstrom and Green in their primes. Some of the most fun hockey I've ever seen.

 

[Silky mitts]

Nice player with nice tools but I don’t understand the way he’s godded up here.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Criminally underrated and over scrutinized in DC. He was legitimately one of the top 5-10 players in the NHL from 2008 to 2011 during his peak,

I wouldn't go quite that far. Semin was 21st in PPG, 31st in points, and 13th in goals during that stretch. And that virtually ignores defensemen and goalies.

Excellent numbers but pretty far from 5th.

His talent was ridiculous. Ovechkin has one of the best wrist shots of all time and most of us considered Semin's to be even better.

He did have some warts too - a lack of durability, and dedication (if smoking cigarettes is any indication).

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

ontop of his wrist shot Semin had a great curl and drag that would get him open to snipe. He could def jock strap the D with some of his dekes.

 

[Calicaps]

Semin had crazy skills and was very underrated defensively, but he didn't have the will. I think he enjoyed playing hockey but that was it. He didn't love the league or the fans or the travel or the obligations. When you hear Ovie or Backs or Osh talk about their teammates, the fans, etc. They have a passion for all of it. It's just a different level.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

I think Semin never put in the time to learn how to speak English. He was pretty much a loner or always with the Russians. Didnt he live with the Ovies for some amount of time.

 

[Ridley Simon]

The cultural difference between here (North America) and there (Europe and even moreso Russia) is far from immaterial, I think, when discussing players like Semin (and possibly Kuznetsov).

As they say “it’s a different world, than where you come from”. It’s stark.

I believe that has a TON to do with certain non-NA players get labeled as lazy or have a low GAF. Many of those types of players have a much narrower foundation here in NA. Lack of foundation can hurt anyone, regardless of what the rest of their lives may look like from afar.

I fully believe Semin struggled with this.

 

[DukeDog13]

Criminally underrated and over scrutinized in DC. He was legitimately one of the top 5-10 players in the NHL from 2008 to 2011 during his peak, and then his career steadily went downhill after suffering numerous injuries including a concussion. If he wasn't as shy with the media then I think people would have been a lot fairer in assessing him.

Also I'm preemptively shutting down any talk of him not giving enough effort, so please take that talk to the forum for babies.

What are your thoughts on him not giving enough effort though?

 

[twabby]

I wouldn't go quite that far. Semin was 21st in PPG, 31st in points, and 13th in goals during that stretch. And that virtually ignores defensemen and goalies.

Excellent numbers but pretty far from 5th.

His talent was ridiculous. Ovechkin has one of the best wrist shots of all time and most of us considered Semin's to be even better.

He did have some warts too - a lack of durability, and dedication (if smoking cigarettes is any indication).

From an impact POV he was in the top 5 or 10 depending on the metric:

Hard to expect more out of a player, and it's why I generally take arguments about him not caring and place those arguments into the garbage can.

 

[zappa4ever]

If only there were Cares Above Replacement stats...

Fortunately there's the lived experience of hockey fans that have seen him play (and many of us Caps fans that saw every minute of his ice time as a Cap) and watching him game-in-game-out it was easy to see when Semin Cared or not

Seeing him backcheck full speed and take his great defensive skills seriously he was as good as any forward coming back on D.
Seeing him half-ass it with stick penalties and holding penalties was easy to see too

Don't put fancy stats on my cupcake and tell me it's frosting

 

[Killer Orcas]

I remember an uber talented player that dazzled with his shot. His prime wasn't long but he had a great peak and was to me one of the most talented players for a few year stretch.

 

[hb13xchamps]

He was legitimately one of the top 5-10 players in the NHL from 2008 to 2011 during his peak

I agree he was underrated, but there’s no way in hell he was a top 5-10 player in the entire NHL over that timespan. Ovechkin, Backstrom, Crosby, Malkin, the Sedins, Stamkos, Kane, Hossa, Kovalchuk, Thornton, Marleau, Getzlaf, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Iginla, etc were playing at that time and in their primes/end of primes and that’s just the forwards.

 

[twabby]

I agree he was underrated, but there’s no way in hell he was a top 5-10 player in the entire NHL over that timespan. Ovechkin, Backstrom, Crosby, Malkin, the Sedins, Stamkos, Kane, Hossa, Kovalchuk, Thornton, Marleau, Getzlaf, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Iginla, etc were playing at that time and in their primes/end of primes and that’s just the forwards.

Semin carried the entire second line for most of his career and played with shit-tier linemates.

Backstrom and Ovechkin were of course both excellent too, as the graphics above show. But they always had each other to help inflate the counting stats. Semin was even more proficient at scoring at 5v5 than Ovechkin/Backstrom, but Semin was doing it with guys like Brendan Morrison, Brooks Laich, Jason Arnott, Eric Belanger, etc. as linemates.

 

[hb13xchamps]

Semin carried the entire second line for most of his career and played with shit-tier linemates.

Backstrom and Ovechkin were of course both excellent too, as the graphics above show. But they always had each other to help inflate the counting stats. Semin was even more proficient at scoring at 5v5 than Ovechkin/Backstrom, but Semin was doing it with guys like Brendan Morrison, Brooks Laich, Jason Arnott, Eric Belanger, etc. as linemates.

I get that. I liked the player and loved his high end skill. That curl and drag wrister was lethal. I think you would be a part of a handful of people on this entire earth who would agree that he was a top 5-10 player in the entire NHL at any point in his career. That list above was just the forwards and didn’t include guys like Lindstrom, Doughty, Keith etc on defense and some great goaltending like Lundqvist, Lou, Rask etc during that span.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

News flash…Semin could speak English…he just played dumb to the press so he wouldn’t have to answer the bell very often (especially when the criticisms mounted)…

Uber talented, no heart. Oh what could have been. Definitely one of the most talented guys when he was in his prime, but that doesn’t make him better than stars who actually delivered consistently.

And I’d take prime Ovi’s wrister every day of the week for its heaviness, accuracy and most importantly, his ability to get it off, over the guy who would occasionally pull off a ridiculous sick/slick wrister goal.

Anyone miss Semin 3-4 times a game shooting at a stupidly bad angle, completely missing the net and sending the other team on an offensive rush? I don’t.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Great player and great personality. The original Kuzy


Also he gets way too much hate for the bongos thing. It doesn’t even make sense. Staal is the guy who got his ass kicked by the bongo player yet no one makes fun of him.

Hate? I gave him credit for standing up and doing something lol.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

He got a big ovation at the caps game he attended...

 

[Ridley Simon]

News flash…Semin could speak English…he just played dumb to the press so he wouldn’t have to answer the bell very often (especially when the criticisms mounted)…

Uber talented, no heart. Oh what could have been. Definitely one of the most talented guys when he was in his prime, but that doesn’t make him better than stars who actually delivered consistently.

And I’d take prime Ovi’s wrister every day of the week for its heaviness, accuracy and most importantly, his ability to get it off, over the guy who would occasionally pull off a ridiculous sick/slick wrister goal.

Anyone miss Semin 3-4 times a game shooting at a stupidly bad angle, completely missing the net and sending the other team on an offensive rush? I don’t.

Don’t hold back. Tell us how you REALLY feel?!?

 

[twabby]

Anyone miss Semin 3-4 times a game shooting at a stupidly bad angle, completely missing the net and sending the other team on an offensive rush? I don’t.

Alex Semin had the second best 5v5 goal differential in the NHL from 2008-2011, behind only Daniel Sedin.

I can't care about the one-off occasions where he'd make a mistake as you describe when that he literally had the second best goal differential in the NHL. Another failing of the ol' eye test it seems!

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Alex Semin had the second best 5v5 goal differential in the NHL from 2008-2011, behind only Daniel Sedin.

I can't care about the one-off occasions where he'd make a mistake as you describe when that he literally had the second best goal differential in the NHL. Another failing of the ol' eye test it seems!

Congrats on being a Semin fan willing to overlook his massive warts. Doesn’t change the reality that he could have been one of the greats, a HOFer even….his career was unfulfilled even for all the dangles and fancy moves.

He got a big ovation at the caps game he attended...

As he should. I’d applaud Green, Kozlov, etc as well…ex Caps all fit into that for me at least. It’s not like he deserves to be booed, but he had the talent to be so much more.

 

[twabby]

Congrats on being a Semin fan willing to overlook his massive warts. Doesn’t change the reality that he could have been one of the greats, a HOFer even….his career was unfulfilled even for all the dangles and fancy moves.

His only major wart was being prone to injury. If he could have stayed healthy I think he could have had a much longer career.

"The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long"

-Lao Tzu

-twabby