Alexander Semin

Alexander Valerievich Semin born March 3, 1984 in Krasnoyarsk, USSR) is a Russian professional ice hockey player with the Carolina Hurricanes 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 junior 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. 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 Arlington, Virginia.

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.

News about Lada's financial situation 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 had 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." 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.

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. 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, 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" and was named one of the NHL's up-and-coming stars. 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.

Awards

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

International play
Played for Russia in :


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