Hurricane Alex: Carolina Signs Alexander Semin To 1-Year, $7 Million Contract

Not that this makes him a bad pickup at all, even at the cornerstone price of $7 million.

Truth be told, the best players in their prime probably deserve an even bigger salary, but most of them accept less so that teams can afford to fit an actual supporting cast under the cap. And most of them accept that lesser amount in return for a long-term commitment that essentially overpays them (cap-wise) in their later, unproductive years.

“We have done a lot of research about Alexander, and discussions about his fit with our team have included people at many different levels of our organization, including players, coaches and staff,” said Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford in a statement. “What’s been clear throughout this process was his commitment to wanting to play in the NHL, and compete against the world’s best players.

“Alexander’s elite skill level and ability to score from the wing fill an important need on the ice, and we hope that a fresh start in Carolina will serve both Alexander and our team well.”

Teams around the NHL seem scared by the reputation of Semin, a player whose skill cannot be denied but whose attitude has been called into question on many an occasion. Because of that, news that the Hurricanes are only interested in a short-term deal should not be surprising. It seems likely that if and when Semin signs with an NHL team this summer, it will come on a short-term contract as clubs take what they perceive as a gamble on him.

The possibility of a big payday in Russia is just about guaranteed for Semin, but that he’s still in North America awaiting a contract suggests that he would rather play in the NHL than in the KHL.

Imagine there were three top-tier free agents on the NHL market come July 1, but 10 days later only two of them were signed.

(Okay, imagine there were four of these on the market, but only two had signed and one was in self-imposed free agent celibacy because he hopes the only franchise he has called home will last long enough for him to, well, stay home. You get my point.)

Chesnokov also reports that Semin and his agent talked prior to the end of the season, and that the decision was to simply wait and see how the cards played out early in this offseason regarding, well, basically everything: The coaching situation in D.C., any other possible changes in management, and of course, the pending collective bargaining talks between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association.

Of course, with the initial news on this story coming from an agent, there’s always the possibility that he was posturing a bit, trying to get more teams interested in Semin’s potential availability.

The money quote from Gandler? Via Custance:

Yep, that certainly sounds like an unhappy player. Capitals blog Russian Machine Never Breaks spoke with Semin at length Monday at their practice facility, and Semin never made any indication that his time in Washington was ready to come to an abrupt halt. But given these quotes from his agent, it doesn’t seem like Semin will ever wear Caps red and white again.

He didn’t like his new assignment, so he decided to leave for the KHL in December. He’s just 21 years old, so he would have been able to pick up an NHL contract somewhere if he wanted one, but Filatov has chosen guaranteed ice time in the KHL instead.

For more on the Sens, head over to Ottawa Senators blog Silver Seven.

As the 2012 NHL Playoffs continue on, teams who have been eliminated will now look to try to keep some of their free agents.

Malamud continued detailing the issue on his Twitter feed: