Looking back at Alexander Semin’s time with the Capitals

Another member of the Washington Capitals young guns has retired and now there are only two left. The latest one to hang up his skates was Alexander Semin. Sport RBC reported the news in a story about a farewell charity game Semin is looking to host over the summer. Among the players invited to participate, those include Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin.

Semin was recently playing in the KHL but did not play at all during the 2021-22 season. He is an addvisor to the director of the Krasnoyarsk hockey club Sokol in Russia’s VHL league which is the second tier of hockey over there.

Semin played 650 games in the NHL with the Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes, and Montreal Canadiens. In the KHL he dressed for 381 games for five different teams. He’s now 38 years old.

In July 2017, Semin started to pursue a master’s degree at Siberian Federal University. It meant his career was winding down and on the final chapters. His study of choice is Metallurgy of Non Ferrous Metals.

Semin was drafted by the Capitals in the first round of the 2002 NHL Draft at 13th overall. He scored 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points in his rookie season in 2003-04. After serving his country Russia in the war, he returned to the Caps in 2006-07 and scored 38 goals and added 35 assists for 73 points.

He followed that up with 26 goals and 16 assists for 42 points in 2007-08 and 34 goals and 45 assists for 79 points in 2008-09. Semin had his best season in 2009-10 when the Caps were an offensive juggernaut. He scored 40 goals and added 44 assists for 84 points.

Semin scored 28 goals and 26 assists for 54 points in 2010-11 and then scored 21 goals and 33 assists for 54 points in his final season with the Caps. After that season he signed with the Carolina Hurricanes as a free agent where he would spend the next three seasons before joining the Montreal Canadiens for 15 games in the 2015-16 season.

Overall Semin played in 469 games with the Capitals recording 197 goals and 211 assists for 408 points. Him, Nicklas Backstrom, and Alex Ovechkin were a 1-2-3 punch in the early days of the young guns era with defenseman Mike Green launching slapshots from downtown.

Now Green and Semin are retired and for now Backstrom and Ovechkin are the last two standing original young guns left. It will be a sad day when they’re all done. Stars and Sticks wishes the best in Semin’s retirement!