Semin

[CaptainTrev]

After that display of girl punches Semin was throwing in that infamous fight a few years back there is no way I would welcome his addition to this franchise, home to players like Curt Fraser, Tiger Williams, Gino Odjick, Gerald Diduck, Ron Delorme, Orland Kurtenbach. Those sissy punches were a shameful sight to a rough and tumble game.

Yeah and the players you mention have a grand total of how many stanley cups in Vancouver?
Oh yeah, zero....

How did Gretzky do in fights against Odjick, Probert, or Kordic?

Oh yeah..... Gretzky didn't drop the gloves with the goons, that was McSorley's job


It's nowhere as embarrassing compared to Sedin getting poked in the face by Jumbo Joe or as a punching bag for the Rat Marchand - at least Semin throws some punches. (even if he sucked at it )

If you have a quality center like Semin who can make plays that score goals, and have some toughness on the ice like Kassian or Garrison

Not particularly interested in Semin, but that's just because of what we've all heard about his attitude.

However IMO trying to "toughen up" this current incarnation of the Canucks' core is a fool's errand.

The Sedins will always be "soft". Burrows and Kesler are yappy floppers. Booth doesn't seem particularly inclined to be nasty, and Hansen is a midget. Edler, Tanev and Hamhuis are the pansy brigade, and from what I am reading about Garrison he's not especially belligerent.

This is not a tough team. So what? Top to bottom they've got skill coming out their asses, and the ability to slaughter other teams with a speedy, puck-posession game. When they are at their best, they impose their will on opponents by skating them out of the goddamn rink.

So why the f*ck not? Bring on Semin! Luongo for Versteeg and Kulikov? Sure! Hell, roll KB4 out on the PP for once! We could be as obscenely deep as the 2010 Blackhawks...but with a real goalie!

I want the 2012-13 Canucks to have the spirit of the "No Pahlssons Club"

[zephyr]

You guys obviously don't watch MMA. Those blows are called Russian Hammer Fists.

[surreal78]

However IMO trying to "toughen up" this current incarnation of the Canucks' core is a fool's errand.

Trev, I generally agree with you, but I don't think it's a lost cause in this case. Kesler, Burrows and Lapierre may have a bad rep for diving/etc., but they're still good, gritty players overall. Every team has their share of so-called "whiners" and you really only hear about ours more than others because (a) we root for this team, and (b) the team has been reasonably successful the last 5-6 years (2007-08 notwithstanding).

Bringing in a guy like Doan and signing a Winnik for the 4th line would go a long way towards helping out cause here. The problem is, I'm really unconvinced that Doan is going to leave the 'Yotes, and if he does, we're pretty much up against all of the other western teams in the bidding, so I don't like our chances.

Winnik is still out there and unsigned, as far as I know, and I think he'd make for a solid addition to our 4th line. I hope GMMG makes a move in that direction, I really liked the way the guy plays a solid defensive, crash-and-bang game. I could see him, Lappy, and whoever ends up on the other side (Kassian? Ebbett? Pinizzotto? (sp?)) working out well. I really hope they ditch Weise, though. The guy is a waste of space... Oreskovich 2.0, but smaller.

[surreal78]

Good PuckDaddy post on Semin today (by a Canucks blogger, no less):
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck- ... --nhl.html

I bet Semin would be vilified a whole lot less if he didn't sort of resemble Willem Dafoe.

Alex Semin has been subject to a very thorough character assassination. For quite some time now, the Russian sniper has been the poster child for "The problem with Russians", as seen by those in the NHL hockey media that have a problem with Russians.

His work ethic has been questioned. His will has been questioned. Even his desire to play in the NHL has questioned. And it's freaking the buyers out.

Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford put the anxiety surrounding Semin into words last week, admitting his team would only look at Semin on a short-term basis.

"We wouldn't want to get locked in to anything," Rutherford said, "Because we've all heard the stories about him. We do like his skill level. It could be that we could bring him in for a year, get to know him and go from there in terms of considering something longer term."

Now, as long as Semin doesn't speak enough English to defend himself in the language or, at the very least, stop being seen as the other, he's going to be somewhat maligned. But, eight days into free agency, I'd say the silence is speaking in his favour. I think it might be time to rethink the whole "he doesn't want to be here" angle.

After all, if Semin doesn't care about playing in the NHL, then how come he hasn't signed with the KHL yet? It's not like he hasn't been offered a contract.

If Slava Malamud, a Foreign Correspondent for Sport-Express, Russia's sports daily and an NHL.com contributor, is to be believed, CSKA has submitted a pretty huge standing offer to lure him back home. According to Malamud, "There are unconfirmed reports that CSKA's offer to Semin stands at 3 years, $30 million."

Now, again, these are just rumours, but even if the numbers aren't quite that high, it's a safe bet that Semin is being offered more to play in the KHL than he's going to get in the NHL.

It's possible that he's waiting to see if anyone in the NHL will come up with an offer even close to the one above (in which case, he's dreaming), but if Semin doesn't want to be here, why is he waiting on a North American team to make a comparable offer at all?

By way of contrast, Alex Radulov's agent announced that he was KHL-bound back on June 18.
It seems to me that Semin's waiting for the right NHL deal, which strikes me as the sort of thing a player who wants to play in the NHL would do. But that's just me.

Semin will get his deal eventually, especially with the number of teams out there with little to show for this offseason. He's effectively the last flashy guy on the market. Even if all 30 teams balk at his skill because of character fears, you have to think, in the end, some General Manager will sign him just to do something.

The contract will inevitably be for decent money, too, but there's no way it's going to be what the KHL is reportedly offering, and that's noteworthy. If Semin stays in North America and leaves money -- potentially a lot of it -- on the table to do so, I think we need to stop speculating on whether or not he wants to be here.

[Todd Bersnoozi]

Honestly, I'm not sure what's worst, the semin bitch slap on stall or the marchand punches on danny sedin. I think u can make the case that at least semin stands up for himself. *LOL* If we get semin and put him with the sedins, we'll have the panziest line ever in hockey.

[clem]

If you're into rumours (it's pretty slow out there)...

The Bleacher Report shows a rumour for a 30 M$ offer to Semin from the KHL.

Alexander Semin should go home

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1251819-nhl-rumors-alexander-semin-would-be-foolish-to-pass-on-offer-of-30-million

[Potatoe1]

If you're into rumours (it's pretty slow out there)...

The Bleacher Report shows a rumour for a 30 M$ offer to Semin from the KHL.

Alexander Semin should go home

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1251819-nhl-rumors-alexander-semin-would-be-foolish-to-pass-on-offer-of-30-million

And this is why term on any offer to Semin isn't much on an issue.

If things don't work out you can threaten to send him to the AHL, he will of course prefer the KHL, so the team suspends him and then "lends" him to the KHL team of his choosing, and bada bing bada boom, it's a 1 year deal.

(P.S. I have always wanted to say bada bing, bada boom)

[Zamboni Driver]

I didn't know that Semin has won Stanley Cups, sorry, me bad.

I didn't claim that he did. The Canucks are not going to win a cup with a "goon squad", they need to put the damn puck in the net.
The Canucks can do well enough in the regular season, but without second (& third) line scoring they dry up in the playoffs.
How many Canucks have had an 80 point season?
Besides the Sedins & Kesler, how many players have even had a 60 point season?

(I know, RoyalDude's fav player David Booth has had one 60 point season )

He's as good as Gretzky?

I never said that, you're reading stuff into my post that I didn't say.
Highly skilled players often don't fight (Gretzky, Sundin, Crosby etc )
The "tough Guy" fighters & goons don't usually score goals.

Gretzky had like 2 fights in his career, as did Sundin
BTW, one of Crosby's fights was against our own heavyweight Keith Ballard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_OuQ75b1J8

If you have issues with the likes of Marchand, Thornton, Dustin Brown and Duncan Keith kicking sand in the faces of the Sedins making them their bitches without any push back why in the hell would you want a pansy like Alexander 'Catfight' Semin to the lineup?

BTW, Semin is not a centre and Garrison not a 'tough guy'.

The issue isn't that the skilled players can't fight, it's that the outher players don't stick up for them.
Semin is a better "playmaker" than Kesler, and Garrison is tougher than Salo IMO

[RoyalDude]

Zamboni, you did say all that. Look at your original post. You said how many Stanley Cups did all those ex Canuck goons win, insinuating that Semin has won Cups or that we are guaranteed to win Cups if we sign him.

You also said 'how many fights did Wayne Gretzky get in', that my friend is insinuating that Semin is somewhat comparable to Wayne Gretzky.

[surreal78]

Rumours floating around that Semin is signing with the Pens... nothing confirmed yet.

Be funny to see Pierre McGuire's reaction when he discovers his uhh.. "buddy" Semin is playing on the same team as as his mancrush Crosby.

[Meds]

If Semin isn't signed somewhere by mid August, I won't be surprised to see Nashville swoop in late to the party and land him in time for training camp with a big time deal in the 2-3 year range. Regardless of the Weber situation there, Poile all but has to take a shot on a guy with Semin's level of talent. There's nobody left out there in the UFA market with his kind of skill. I'll bet the only two reasons that Nashville hasn't already offered him the world is the hold-up with Weber and the fact that the Radulov's return to Russia is still burning them a bit.

If Semin can work on the attitude/effort issues on his end, whatever team lands him probably comes away the biggest winner of this summer's UFA games. He'll likely sign for alot less than Parise, and I think he's more talented than Parise. Parise just has a MASSIVE edge in heart (from what we've seen), and that goes a LONG way in the North American game. But I think that a hard working Semin could notch 80+ points easily.

[clem]

..I won't be surprised to see Nashville swoop in late to the party and land him ....

Semin & Trotz would be an interesting combination.

[SKYO]

However IMO trying to "toughen up" this current incarnation of the Canucks' core is a fool's errand.

This is not a tough team. So what? Top to bottom they've got skill coming out their asses, and the ability to slaughter other teams with a speedy, puck-posession game. When they are at their best, they impose their will on opponents by skating them out of the goddamn rink.

So why the f*ck not? Bring on Semin!

I want the 2012-13 Canucks to have the spirit of the "No Pahlssons Club"

I'm inclined to agree, I like that post by someone, 'last time I checked you need to score goals if you want to win' and iirc, we could barely score in the Cup final 11' and especially in the LA series 12'!
We basically had one scoring line, which was really evident last season, injuries played a part in that for sure, but this team heavily relies upon the Sedins to generate the bulk of our offense.

Adding Semin and using his scoring talent to help us down the stretch is what we severely need, fill up the 3rd/4th lines with bigger tougher players! We have enough two way players and a strong leadership core, we need another elite sniper besides Danny if we ever want to win Lord Stanley.

A very interesting in-depth read on Semin:

http://www.anguscertified.com/alexander-semin-and-ignoring-the-10-percent/

[RoyalDude]

Skyo, Alexander 'pillow fight' Semin is not coming here.

[Zamboni Driver]

Zamboni, you did say all that. Look at your original post. You said how many Stanley Cups did all those ex Canuck goons win, insinuating that Semin has won Cups or that we are guaranteed to win Cups if we sign him.

No, there was no "insinuating" in that comment, that's your interpretation.

Some people want to ice a team full of tough goons, I was just pointing out that we never won a stanley cup or even got close with the goon laden teams.

]You also said 'how many fights did Wayne Gretzky get in', that my friend is insinuating that Semin is somewhat comparable to Wayne Gretzky.

Only in your hazy mind perhaps.
The Wayne Gretzky comment wasn't comparing him to Semin (as explained earlier) it was the point that scorers don't usually fight, and fighters don't usually score.


Personally, I wouldn't mind Shane Doan, I just doubt that he would pick Vancouver over Phoenix