CAPITALS 101

It took three weeks, four days, and a few hours, but Alex Semin is officially no longer a Washington Capital.

However, we'll still be seeing the Russian enigma quite a bit next season.

Semin signed a one-year, $7 million contract with the Carolina Hurricanes earlier today, marking the first season he'll play in the NHL without sporting a Washington sweater.

It was an inevitable scenario that became a reality today, but it will be quite weird to see Sasha (hopefully) six times in the upcoming season. The Caps division rival acquired Semin for a slightly steeper price than his cap hit last season of $6.7 million.

The Hurricanes haven't defeated the Caps in a season series since 2006-07 (two season-series ties), but Carolina promises to be a tough challenge in 2012-13 after trading for Jordan Staal and signing Semin.

The sniper leaves the Capitals as the fifth-best goalscorer in franchise history, but the lasting memory of Semin by Caps fans will likely be of failed potential.

Although Alex Ovechkin's buddy registered the second-most points on the Caps with 54, many point to his career-low of 21 goals as the main culprit of his departure. 4 points in 14 games during the 2012 playoffs, including a 9 game scoreless streak, didn't help Semin's cause as well.

The move is exactly what Carolina General Manager Jim Rutherford had in mind regarding the signing of Semin.

"We would look at Semin on a short-term basis,” Rutherford told reporters back on July 6. “We wouldn't want to get locked in to anything, because we've all heard the stories about him. We do like his skill level. It could be that we could bring him in for a year, get to know him and go from there in terms of considering something longer term.”

My guess: Rutherford will be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Many within the Caps community know how valuable Semin is; he was definitely one of the main reasons why Washington even made the playoffs.

From Dec. 17 through Feb. 25, Sasha recorded 30 points in 31 games while playing a defensive-minded system under Dale Hunter.

In the last 9 games of the season, Semin had 10 points. He failed to register a point in only one of those ten games.

Still think number 28 wasn't instrumental in helping guide the Caps to the playoffs?

Capitals 101 will concede that the seven million dollar figure is a bit much, but it creates another scenario in which Semin will be playing for a long-term contract next season.

Perhaps we haven't seen his last game in a Capitals jersey, given the unpredictability of George McPhee.

But for now, good-bye Alex Semin.

Your laser snipes will surely be missed.

 

 

 

Tags: Alex Semin, Carolina Hurricanes, Dale Hunter, Hockey, Jordan Staal, NHL, Washington, Washington Capitals

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