Alexander Semin

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Alexander Semin : biography

March 3, 1984 –

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. He completed the campaign with nine points in 15 games with Lada and 10 points in 26 games with Khimik.

Return to the NHL/Years in Washington

With Semin’s military obligations fulfilled, he agreed to a two-year contract with the Capitals on April 11, 2006, resolving the conflict between the two parties. Playing in his first game for the Capitals in two years, Semin scored the team’s first goal of the 2006–07 season against the New York Rangers on October 5, 2006. In his next game against the Carolina Hurricanes, he recorded a hat trick. 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. Late in the season, Capitals coach Glen Hanlon started Alexander Ovechkin and Semin together on the powerplay and occasionally on the team’s first scoring line. Ovechkin and Semin finished as the team’s top two scorers and Semin soon became known as "The Other Alex". He completed the season with 38 goals (13th in league scoring) and 73 points in 77 games, missing five games to an injury early in the season. Semin was one of three 30-goal scorers for the Capitals for the season, along with Ovechkin and captain Chris Clark.

After a successful NHL comeback in 2006–07, Semin’s struggled in comparison during the 2007–08 season, scoring 42 points while being sidelined for 19 games. Along with Ovechkin and second-year forward Nicklas Backstrom, Semin helped form a highly offensive core with the Capitals in 2008–09. On March 3, 2009, Semin’s 25th birthday, he scored his 100th career goal, against the Carolina Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward. Semin spent much of the first couple months of the season as the league’s top point-scorer, but tailed off as he began to experience injury troubles. Regardless, he finished with a career-high 79 points in just 62 games, third in Capitals scoring behind Ovechkin and Backstrom. In the 2009 playoffs, Semin added 14 points in 14 games, including a three-point effort (two goals and an assist) on April 20, 2009, leading the Capitals to a crucial playoff win against the New York Rangers in Game 3 of the opening round.

Midway through the 2009–10 NHL season, Semin signed a one-year, $6 million contract extension with the Capitals.

Semin played for Team Russia in the 2010 Winter Olympics.http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/olyhockey/news/story?id=4771666

In Washington’s 2010 quarter-final match-up against the Montreal Canadiens, Semin received large amounts of criticism due to his poor play, as he did not score any goals despite firing 44 shots on Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak, and finished the series with just 2 assists in 7 games as Montreal upset Washington 4-3 in the series, with the Capitals blowing a 3-1 lead.

Semin signed another one-year extension with the Washington Capitals on January 27, 2011, worth $6.7 million. He became an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2012.

On April 5, 2012, Semin became the 5th all time leading goal scorer of the Capitals with his 197th goal.

Carolina Hurricanes

On July 26, 2012, the Carolina Hurricanes signed Semin to a one-year contract worth $7 million.

On September 25 it was announced that for the time of NHL lockout Semin would sign with Sokol Krasnoyarsk from VHL (Russian second-tier hockey division). He would wear jersey #28. Despite the fact he had offers from KHL clubs, he chose to play for a club from his home town for free. After playing four games with Sokol, Semin signed a contract with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), the top-level league based in Russia. The president of Torpedo, Oleg Kondrashov, praised Semin for joining Sokol at first, saying that "The player’s decision to pay tribute to the team that brought him up does credit to him," though he also added, "But a player of such high level should play in KHL."