Anyway, Semin is a very lucky guy. For what ever reason, Ovechkin is the one who always gets the grief in Washington, even when hes leading the team. Everyone keeps talking about Ovechkin being off to a slow start while he has six goals and seven assists in 12 games. While not great, thats not bad either. Semin on the other hand has the talent to be just as good as Ovechkin…. yet hes REALLY off to a slow start and no one even notices. The night Ovechkin was “benched”, Semin was also riding the pine at the end of the game. For being Washingtons second best player, hes not putting up the numbers he should be… yet he seems to be getting a pass on it as usual.

The playoffs are another great example. Year after year Ovechkin is blamed for the Caps early exits from the playoffs…. despite the fact that in the 37 playoffs games hes play in for the Caps he has 25 goals and 25 assists for 50 points. Hell last year he was clearly off his game a bit, and still had 10 points (5 goals, 5 assits) in Washingtons ten games. Semin on the other hand? In the same 37 playoff games he has 12 goals and 18 assists for 30 points. Not horrible numbers really, but hardly great from a talent like Semin. It should also be noted that nearly half of those points come from the 14 games Washington played in the 09 playoffs in which they were eliminated by Pittsburgh. In his other 23 playoff games he only has 16 points. Again not horrible, but just a couple more goals a year in the playoffs from Semin could be what Washington needs to push them over the brink.

Yet year after year no ones ever talking about Semin taking the playoffs off. Its always Ovechkins fault, or its always Boudreau’s fault. Its never the fault of the guys like Semin who just doesn’t get it done in the playoffs. If Washington thinks the way to win the cup is holding its players accountable for their play…. perhaps they should stop riding the guy leading their team in goal scoring, and start rideing the guy who should be challanging him for that lead, but isn’t.