Caps Report, Get to know Semin Edition — OCT 31

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The Washington Capitals are off until tomorrow. Tomorrow they begin a two game northern road trip, taking on Buffalo on Saturday and Ottawa on Tuesday, then come home for a three game home stand with Carolina, New York Rangers and Tampa Bay.

Good news for the Washington Capitals over this rest stretch, D Tom Poti is back to practice after being out with a strained groin since 10/16. Although D Tyler Sloan has played pretty well in Poti’s absence, defensively, the Caps are not the same without Poti. One instance is the use of Mike Green.

Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau would like to limit Mike Green’s time on the ice - at least a little bit - but that probably isn’t possible until Tom Poti returns.

Green has been logging some serious minutes, up over 30 in some games, something Bruce Boudreau wants to cut back between 25 and 27, so that Green is fresher in the third period. Poti’s return would allow more minutes for Poti, allowing Green to drop minutes. Boudreau had the same ice time concerns for Alexander Ovechkin before he departed for Russia to be with his ailing grandfather. Ovie was racking up 27-28 minutes of ice time, something Boudreau would like to see fall to 24-25.

Speaking of Ovie, his return thus far is slated for Sunday, meaning he will miss tomorrow’s game against Buffalo but should be ready to roll for Ottawa.

Meanwhile, the other Caps Russian Alex, Alexander Semin, is getting some love as well. Semin is currently the team leader in goals and scoring, his 8 goals is one behind Tomas Vanek for the NHL lead and his 16 total points leads the NHL. Semin’s red hot start has been critical to the Capitals success as the Caps are still awaiting the scoring revival of Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, two Caps stars, yet to get hot.

The Canadian Press spot lights ‘the other Alex’ in an article today. Semin really has no idea why he is so hot offensively right now …

“I have no idea, really. I just go out there and play. It’s impossible to describe why it’s going the right way,” he said through a Russian reporter who informally serves as Semin’s interpreter. “I don’t think this question should be directed to me.”

Boudreau has the reasons for Semin’s success …

“It’s maturation. That’s the big key, right there,” Boudreau said. “His responsibility on the ice. His work ethic. All of those things.”

But as the article points out, one of the very reasons Semin is considered ‘the other Alex’ is his shyness or perhaps more appropriate, his avoidance of the media.

In truth, Semin prefers not to deal with reporters much at all, which might be one reason he isn’t particularly well-known outside NHL circles. He steadfastly turns down requests to do interviews in English, professing not to be able to communicate well enough.

Approached by an AP reporter after a recent practice, Semin winked and grinned and said clearly, “I don’t speak English.”

Later, his English also seemed fine as he rebuffed a member of the Capitals’ PR staff who tried to persuade Semin to talk.

It is pretty common knowledge that although Semin tries to utilize the language barrier as an excuse, his understands english pretty well. This will be an interesting story to watch if Semin stays on a hot course, the hotter he becomes the more demand for access, not just in Washington, but nationally as well. The Capitals would clearly like Semin to open up some, but he is still is quite guarded when it comes to speaking to the media. In that regard, he is completely different than ‘the Alex”.

His passing, his speed, his puck handling, his avoidance of the penalty box, all of those combined skilsl have increased even more for Semin, leading to the early offensive prowess. Don’t think Matt Bradley hasn’t taken notice either.

“It’s kind of depressing,” Washington forward Matt Bradley said good-naturedly, “knowing I’ll never be able to do half the moves he does.”

And perhaps Semin is taking a dash at what no Caps fan ever thought would happen …

At the rate things are going, Semin is managing to turn Ovechkin into “The Other Alex.”

Ummm, one step at a time baby steps.

Helping Semin along in the maturation process has been the big Russian Veteran Sergei Fedorov and Bourdreau cites Fedorov’s role and a contributing factor.

“It’s not hard [to improve] when your hero, your idol growing up is now your linemate,” Boudreau said. “Let’s face it, if you get an icon or someone who’s a future Hall of Famer talking to you, you’re gonna listen and it’s gonna pay dividends.”

So we know the Alexes are best friends, their both from Russia, and their both Washington Capitals. So are there differences …

“Alex is a bull, and Semin skates like he’s on top of the ice, as if you don’t even see his skates touch the ice. Ovechkin grinds through the ice out there,” Boudreau said.

There’s another notable difference between the two: their natural character.

Ovechkin is an outgoing guy who wears his heart on his sleeve while he’s on the ice. Semin is more reserved and unlike his Russian teammate, he doesn’t speak English very well.

“He hasn’t picked up the language as well as Ovechkin,” Boudreau admitted. “But other than that, he wants to win.

“He’s not outgoing as Alex, but when he scored the winning goal against Dallas Saturday, you could tell he was pretty happy the way he was pumping his fist, and that he is capable of being demonstrative.”

I think one thing is pretty clear. Teams are getting killed by Semin and will have to make defensive adjustments to counter the Semin attack, but being on a separate line, you then sacrifice the extra protection against, Ovie. No doubt about it, once Ovie gets hot, if Semin stays hot, this team is going to be downright dangerous.

Quick Brian Potheir update.  Remember him?  Pothier missed most of all last season and does not appear to be close to returning yet this year, still trying to recover from a serious concussion.

For now, he said his problem is a vision thing. His eyes and brain don’t always work together properly, so he will suffer from bouts of “seasickness” when he pushes too hard. He has been trying to workout up to a certain threshold, but Pothier said being programmed as a hockey player to always try to push and work harder than the next guy has made it frustrating for him.

Interpretation — don’t look for Pothier back anytime soon.  Other questions, has the defense move don passed the need for Pothier?

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