Can’t say I have any idea what Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau has in mind for the lineup on Monday against the Phoenix Coyotes. But it can’t be a good sign for forward Alex Semin that he wore a white fourth-line jersey at Sunday afternoon’s practice at Kettler Iceplex – at least until forward Joel Ward left early due to illness. Only then did Semin done a green third-line jersey. That doesn’t exactly scream “I’m playing in my usual top-six right wing spot.” Does it?
“Infer what you want,” Boudreau said. “If everybody’s healthy two guys got to sit so we have to figure out who it’s going to be.”
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There is an illness beginning to run though the room so who knows who comes down with something before the morning skate on Monday or before the game tomorrow night. Boudreau did say Ward and defenseman John Erskine – who took a hard spill during practice and “bumped” his surgically repaired left shoulder – would be okay. Mathieu Perreault has been scratched in six of the last eight games. You’d think the Caps would want to get him back into the lineup at some point.
Semin has two goals and two assists in his last 13 games. Overall, he sits at 4/5/9. That puts him on pace for around 18 goals, 41 assists and 59 points – not enough production from a guy with a $6.7 million salary-cap hit who has topped 28 goals four times and 70 points three times. It doesn’t help that Semin is a penalty machine right now. He’s taken at least one minor penalty in each of the last seven games. Semin has 14 minors total. Only Anaheim’s Corey Perry (15) has more. No one else on the Caps has more than eight (defenseman Roman Hamrlik). That won’t stand.
“You know what – people don’t realize [Semin] tries. I’ve watched the tapes of him and he’s really trying,” Boudreau said. “Sometimes, again, Semin is like [Alex Ovechkin]. He’s not used to not scoring goals. Like at this time last year he might have had 13 or 14 goals. And the year before he was leading the league in scoring at this time. So when you’re stuck on four goals you do things that you probably wouldn’t normally do. And you try to do too much, be too cute, to get the perfect goal.”
Indeed, Semin had 13 goals through the first 18 games last season. The year before he had nine goals and eight assists (17 points) through 18 games before a right wrist injury knocked him out for seven games. Not sure if that led the NHL at that point, but point taken. This is a guy used to scoring and he doesn’t seem to be handling his lack of production all that well. Semin’s goals against/60 minutes at even strength right now is 3.14. Only Marcus Johansson – his frequent linemate as the second-line center – is worse (3.48) among regular skaters. Perreault is at 3.15, but has only played 10 games. Ignore defenseman Sean Collins (5.63), who has only appeared in two.
Semin took 18 shifts in Saturday’s 7-1 loss to Toronto. He was whistled for – to be fair – a weak diving penalty. But he was also on the ice for two even-strength Maple Leafs goals. Semin took four shots on goal, but had two blocked and missed the net three times. Semin has a well-earned reputation among NHL referees – even Boudreau conceded that – but this seems to be getting ridiculous. Are all these penalties starting to take a mental toll? Does that happen?
“Oh, absolutely. When you’re in a slump you do things that you don’t normally do. Ever,” Boudreau said. “If you relate it to golf, when you’re feeling hot you know the putt is going in. When you feel you’re awful you’re not going to sink a two-footer. Because you know you’re going to miss it. You tell yourself you’re going to miss it…You go through those peaks and valleys. Hopefully the valley is already dug deep enough and he’s coming out of it.”
Semin has been a healthy scratch before in his career. He made the opening night roster to start the 2003-04 season as a 19-year-old, but was scratched the first three games of that season. He missed three more games later that October, but I wasn’t able to figure if that was a coaches’ decision or injury. Semin played in 12 of 14 games that November and two of three to start December before the Caps allowed him to leave the team for a month to participate in the prestigious World Juniors tournament. He returned Jan. 9, 2004 and appeared in 52 games during that trying season.
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