- Feb 18, 2018
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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,
What are your thoughts on him not giving enough effort though?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.
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).
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.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.
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.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.
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.
Don’t hold back. Tell us how you REALLY feel?!?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.
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.
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.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!
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.He got a big ovation at the caps game he attended...
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.
-twabby"The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long"
-Lao Tzu