Alexander Semin

This article is about the hockey player. For Soviet international footballer, see Aleksandr Syomin.

Alexander Semin
Born	(1984-03-03) March 3, 1984 Krasnoyarsk, USSR
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight	205 lb (93 kg; 14 st 9 lb)
Position	Left wing
Shoots	Right
NHL team	Washington Capitals
NHL draft	13th overall, 2002 Washington Capitals
Playing career	2002–present

Alexander Valerievich Semin beats monkeys for banaanas (Template:Lang-ru), born March 3, 1984 in Krasnoyarsk, USSR) is a Russian professional ice hockey player with Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League.

Playing career

In 2001–02, he played for one year with the Traktor Chelyabinsk hockey school. He split the season between their juniors team and their regular team, and during the season he scored 21 goals and had 8 assists between the two clubs.

The Capitals selected Semin with their second pick, 13th overall (they selected Steve Eminger with their first pick, 12th overall) in the 2002 Entry draft; he decided to remain in Russia during the subsequent season. In 2002–03, he scored 10 goals and made 7 assists in 47 games with Lada Togliatti.

In the 2003–04 NHL season, Semin made his NHL debut. He scored 10 goals and assisted on 12 others during his stay in the NHL in 2003–04. However, he missed his team's flight to Pittsburgh when the Capitals closed out their season against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Semin then reported to Maine to play for the American Hockey League Portland Pirates, where he collected 15 points in four regular season and seven playoff games.

During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Semin played 50 games for HC Lada Togliatti, scoring 19 goals, assisting on 11 goals, and compiling a Plus/minus rating of +15.

Semin began the 2005–06 season with Lada, but financial difficulties with the team resulted in a deal that brought him to Khimik (Chemist), a Russian Superleague team in Mytischi, just outside of Moscow. [1] While with Lada, Semin played 16 games, accumulating 5 goals, 4 assists, and 52 penalty minutes.

Semin scored the first goal for the Capitals in the 2006–07 season against the New York Rangers on October 5, 2006. In his next game against Carolina he recorded a hat trick for the Capitals.

On March 18, 2007 Semin tallied the second natural hat trick of his career against the Tampa Bay Lightning, scoring three goals on three successive shots in a span of 7:04 in the second period.

Semin resides in the Bellevue Forest neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia with his parents, lifelong friend Russell Friesen, his dog Sergei and Friesen's dog Max.

Military duty controversy

There was some confusion about Semin's obligations to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which requires all Russian men to serve two years. However, the Armed Forces allow would-be soldiers who are hockey players to play for professional hockey teams in Russia during their period of service; they are not allowed to play for teams based in other countries. Nikolai Zherdev and some other young Russian players returned to their NHL clubs following the lockout, circumventing any additional military duty they had to serve in Russia.

In particular, it was arranged for Semin to play his second year with Lada during the 2005–06 NHL season. Lada is located in the military district into which Semin was drafted, and they were the only team with whom Semin could fulfill his military obligation. He had completed his first year of military service by playing for Lada during the year-long NHL lockout; the Capitals suspended him for that whole season for not reporting to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Hershey Bears, since many of their other young players were reporting there. (Alexander Ovechkin, meanwhile, had decided to play for HC Dynamo Moscow. The Capitals did not have Ovechkin report to Portland during the lockout because they thought he was already prepared to play regularly in the NHL.)

The Capitals started training camp for the 2005–06 season with neither Semin nor Czech forward Petr Sykora. Sykora did arrive near the end of training camp; Semin was still in Russia at the start of the season, taking care of "paperwork" for the Russian Army. The 2005–06 season was the second of three years in Semin's contract with the Capitals.

From a financial standpoint, Semin earned the equivalent of $2 million tax-free with a free car and condominium by playing for Lada in 2005–06, contrasted with the $950,000 for which he was under contract with the Capitals. This became a major problem for Lada early in the 2005–06 season, when Lada suddenly ran into financial difficulties and had to let go of several members of their front office almost immediately to cut down on costs. They have also already stated that they would cut their payroll by at least 50 percent; Semin is the highest-paid player on the team.

The news about Lada initially offered the Capitals some hope that Semin would join the team during the 2005–06 season, but a Capitals official stated that the team is not sure that they would want Semin to rejoin their team no matter what the circumstances, because of his playing for Lada rather than the Capitals.

On October 26, 2005, Capitals general manager George McPhee announced that the Capitals have filed a complaint against Semin and his agent, Mark Gandler. McPhee stated, "We have done everything we could to avoid this step, but we felt we had no choice but to now seek a legal remedy. This filing seeks to compel Alexander Semin's agent and the Russian hockey team Lada Togliatti to return Alex to the Washington Capitals.... We look forward to the resolution of this process so that we can welcome Alex back to the Capitals this season." Likewise, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said, "This is a situation where a valid, legally-binding contract is not being honored, and that's not right." [2] U.S. District Court Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr., issued a temporary restraining order on November 4, 2005, ordering Gandler and his International Sports Advisors Company to stop representing Semin in contracts with teams other than the Capitals. However, due to Lada Togliatti's financial challenges, Lada released Semin; he signed with Mytischi Khimik on November 22.

Return to the NHL

On December 5, 2005, Kennedy denied the Capitals' request for preliminary injunctions against Semin and Gandler. Alexander Berkovich, Semin's lawyer, stated that Semin intended to play for Khimik for the remainder of the 2005–06 season, and that Semin's military obligations would be fulfilled by fall 2006. [3]

On April 11, 2006, Semin agreed to a two-year contract with the Capitals that will begin in the 2006–07 NHL season, resolving the conflict between the two parties. [4] Semin played the whole season for the Capitals, aside from missing five games to an injury early in the season. He finished the season 13th in the NHL with 38 goals [5], which gave the Capitals three 30-goal scorers for the season; Alexander Ovechkin and Chris Clark were the others. Three of Semin's goals were in the form of a natural hat trick that he scored in a 7-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Later in the season, Capitals coach Glen Hanlon started Ovechkin and Semin together on the power play and occasionally on the team's first even-strength scoring line. Much of the Capitals' offense in the 2006–07 season came from Ovechkin and Semin, who became known as "The Other Alex" [6] and was named one of the NHL's up-and-coming stars [7]

Semin, who does not typically fight, had 90 penalty minutes during the 2006–07 season, mainly from minor penalties. He was tied for the league lead with eight high-sticking calls on the season, and his 13 hooking penalties were tenth-most in the league. [8] In a late-season game against Tampa Bay, Semin was called for throwing the puck across the ice. His penalty led to Tampa Bay defenseman Dan Boyle's game-winning goal, and Hanlon benched Semin for much of the third period of the game. [9]

On April 18, several weeks after the Capitals' season ended, Semin missed his first workout for the Russian national team because his flight back to Moscow made him arrive at the team's practice facility 3 1/2 hours late; the team dismissed him. [10]

On January 3, 2009, Semin uncharacteristically fought New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal. He was outmatched by the larger Staal, who tore off Semin's untied jersey, earning Semin an automatic ejection from the game and a 10-minute misconduct on top of his 5 minute fighting major. At the end of the fight, Semin was on top of Staal and flailing his arms at him, highlighting the fight as one of the most unusual in the NHL.

On March 3, 2009, Semin's 25th birthday, he scored his 100th career goal, against the Carolina Hurricanes and goalie Cam Ward. On April 20, 2009, Semin scored twice and had an assist, leading the Capitals to a crucial playoff win vs. the Rangers in game 3. This was his first 3 point playoff game.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2002–03	HC Lada Togliatti	RSL		47	10	7	17	36		10	5	3	8	10
2003–04	Washington Capitals	NHL		52	10	12	22	36		-	-	-	-	-
2003–04	Portland Pirates	AHL		4	3	1	4	6		7	4	7	11	19
2004–05	HC Lada Togliatti	RSL		50	19	11	30	54		10	1	1	2	0
2005–06	HC Lada Togliatti	RSL		16	5	4	9	52		-	-	-	-	-
2005–06	Mytishi Khimik	RSL		26	3	7	10	26		8	3	2	5	6
2006–07	Washington Capitals	NHL		77	38	35	73	90		-	-	-	-	-
2007–08	Washington Capitals	NHL		63	26	16	42	54		7	3	5	8	8
2008–09	Washington Capitals	NHL		62	34	45	79	77
NHL totals				254	108	108	216	257		7	3	5	8	8

Awards

• NHL No. 1 Star of the Month: October 2008

International play

Alexander Semin

Medal record
Representing Russia
World Championships
	2008 Quebec City	Ice hockey
	2005 Vienna	Ice hockey

Played for Russia in :

• 2003 World Championships
• 2004 World Junior Championships
• 2005 World Championships (Bronze Medal)
• 2006 World Championships
• 2008 World Championships (Gold Medal)

International statistics

Year	Team	Comp	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2003	Russia	WC	6	0	0	0	0
2004	Russia	WJC	6	2	2	4	10
2005	Russia	WC	6	3	0	3	8
2006	Russia	WC	7	3	3	6	8
2008	Russia	WC	9	6	7	13	8
Junior int'l totals			6	2	2	4	10
Senior int'l totals			28	12	10	22	24

External links

• Alexander Semin player profile at NHL.com
• Entry at RussianPropects.com
• Alexander Semin player profile at TSN.ca
• Alexander Semin career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database