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Capitals’ Semin: “What’s so special about Crosby ??”
by Tony on 10/31/08 at 11:25 AM ET
Comments (11)
Aaaah yes, more fuel to the Capitals-Penguins rivalry fire.
Big tip of the hat to colleague Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy. Greg posted a very interesting article concerning an interview with the Capitals’ Alexander Semin.
It’s a good interview with Semin, with several subjects discussed. However, the section that Penguins fans will no doubt find intriguing (some others will use more harsh adjectives) concerns Sidney Crosby.
When asked the question whether he thought that he was now on the same level as Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, Semin gives a doozy of a response:
What’s so special about [Crosby]? I don’t see anything special there. Yes, he does skate well, has a good head, good pass. But there’s nothing else. Even if you compare him to Patrick Kane from Chicago ... [Kane] is a much more interesting player. The way he moves, his deking abilities, his thinking on the ice and his anticipation of the play is so superb.
I think that if you take any player, even if he is “dead wood,” and start promoting him, you’ll get a star. Especially if he scores 100 points. No one is going to care about anyone else. No one is going to care whether he possesses great skill. Let’s say you put someone in front of the net and let him deflect pucks in, and he scored 50 goals; everyone will say “Wow!” and then hand him a $10 million per year contract. That’s what they like here.
And in Russia people like beautiful hockey, and not dump and chase. I just don’t get it, why when a player is skating up the ice and no one is attacking him, he dumps the puck into the offensive zone and then chases it? Why would you do this if there is no one forechecking you? I understand that if there is someone coming at you and you don’t know whether you can get past that player, then you can dump the puck, pass it or shoot. But if not, then hold on to the puck, skate forward, create a chance.
Why would you want to dump the puck and then chase after it and crash into the boards? I don’t know. But that’s just my opinion.
Wow.
Of course, there will be many NHL fans, who may not agree with Semin’s comments 100%, but do agree in the promotional aspects of Crosby’s career to date. There are also some in the NHL crowd who actually believe that Crosby is overrated.
Call me a homer, however I believe I’m being objective when I say that Comrade Semin is not giving Crosby near the props he has earned in his 3+ seasons to date. Is he going to win a scoring title ?? I would have to say at this point in time that answer will be no. Crosby simply doesn’t shoot the puck enough, no matter how hard he tries to shoot “more”. He is still regularly turning down shooting opportunities, to the ire of Penguins fans.
However, that should not deflect from Crosby’s sensational playmaking abilities. There are times, often in every game he plays, that it appears that he has eyes in the back of his head. His vision of the ice is simply second to none in the NHL. If the Penguins would ever get him a decent winger for longer than a few months, they would immediately be the best 1-2 punch in the NHL.
Semin, of course, is entitled to his opinion. In addition, Semin is extremely talented in his own right. But to make a broad statement like “what’s so special about Crosby ??” is simply preposterous.
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Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Washington+Capitals,
Comments
Thanks Tony for giving some perspective in reality. I wonder if Semin has ever looked at Sid’s stats. Stats dont lie. But then again maybe Semin is saying what is so special about Crosby over the first few weeks of this season. He is not firing on all cylinders but would you bet money that he goes a whole season like this?
Regardless, Sid has played 22 more career games than Semin and has doubled him up on pts. 307 to 153. Semin is 24 and Sid is 21. I can certainly see why Sid is special. When they compare Sid to people, they certainly dont mention the Other Alex...Names like Lemieux and Gretzky are there .
Posted by Spike on 10/31/08 at 10:55 AM ET
I now officially despise Alex Semin and know that he is an egotistical moron who obviously hasn’t watched Sid play very much the last few years and certainly didn’t watch the playoffs last season.
Posted by NHLJeff from Boston, MA on 10/31/08 at 11:16 AM ET
I have to agree with Semin on this. Crosby is nothing speical at all. He’s overhyped by the US Media and the NHL who wants him to be the savior of hockey in Pittsburgh.
Anyone notice how when attendence was down in Pittsburgh and the team was getting ready to move that all the sudden they drafted some guy named Lemiuex, who “saved the franchise” Lemiuex was great for a few years saved the penguins for pittsburgh and then the real hockey fans in Pittsburgh did what they do best abandand the team again. 5 years ago Pittsburgh was getting ready to lose the Penguins again, this time steps in some clown named Crosby. All hype a good scorer (which the NHL has a few of), a skilled passer (which the NHL has a lot of), a guy who won’t and cannot hit, a guy that if you hit him you’ll get a penalty called on.
Crosby is basically and NHL Bi**h protected by the league and the referees. Promoted by the league as the greatest current player (which he’s not), in order to save hockey in Pittsburgh.
Posted by Sidney on 10/31/08 at 11:19 AM ET
Do any of you that talk smack about him actually ever watch him play?? He does hit, and he is definitely tough. He’s the toughest guy in the league to take off the puck. No one currently in the league sees the ice better or makes more heads up plays other than Datsyuk and Zetterberg. All of you idiots who claim he is overrated are just joining the group of people who are annoyed that the NHL over-promotes him. They totally do and I understand those that get sick of it, but blame it on the league, not on Sid. It isn’t his fault, he does what is asked of him. Oh, and is that a knock on Lemieux you’re making?
Posted by NHLJeff from Boston, MA on 10/31/08 at 11:35 AM ET
You’re just plain dumb if you think there is nothing special about Sidney Crosby.
Any player who scores over 100 points is special. He’s no Gretzky or Lemieux, but when it comes to CURRENT players, you can’t talk about great ones without putting his name into the bunch.
And the NHL conspiracy BS is just plain ridiculous. Obviously the pens drafted great players that saved their franchise after years of being terrible. THATS THE POINT OF THE DRAFT!!! BAD TEAMS GET GOOD PLAYERS!!!
And I don’t get this “hockey fans in Pittsburgh did what they do best abandand the team again.”
Attendance dipped a bit in 02-03 to 86% when they were the second worst team in the league and then again in 03-04 to 69% which is awful, but then again they were the worst team in the league. It then went back up again
Thats typical of any team in the league dumbass. Especially when it is a relatively small city, any time the team does bad, attendance goes down. And as for the 80’s before they got Lemieux, Pittsburgh was going through the same thing as Detroit is now, losing all of the area jobs. No jobs=no money No money + a bad team=no attendance. Detroit will still sell tickets because they are a much larger city, and their team is still real good.
But just because a team doesn’t sell a ton of tickets doesn’t mean they aren’t “real hockey fans”
So STFU unless you actually know what you’re talking about.
Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 10/31/08 at 12:13 PM ET
Semin is a dope. A self-promoting joke who is jealous and only wishes he had the endorsements and fame of Crosby.
Captain Coat tail-Rider himself, Robin to Batvechkin.. serioulsly. He seriously said ‘any dead wood that scores 100 points can be made into a star’.
WHAT? Anyone that scores a hundred points IS a star. Maybe that little twit Semin can deflect 50 goals in.. (no he can’t, either)..and if he ever did score 100 points and get 50 goals, HE would be a big deal too.
What a little monkey-spank. Name me any NHL player that has scored 100+ points that was ‘dead wood’? He needs to just shut up and play hockey, or flap his gums and sound like an idiot.
I’m not even here to defend Sid.. he is what he is. People hate him for being everywhere. Not sure I blame people for that. I’m just amazed by the complete stupidity of a little dweeb named Alex.. who wants to jump out of the shadow of Big Alex.
Sad little twerp.
Posted by deathbyemu from Fantasy Land on 10/31/08 at 03:13 PM ET
Gotta hand it to Semin for being a provocateur.
Crosby is *absolutely* something special and anyone who denies that should look back on their own accomplishments from 18-21, in sports or otherwise.
He is also a bit prissy, but that is fading with age and experience. Will he ever be as selfless as Yzerman, Lidstrom, Sakic etc? No, but he’s getting better.
He played with a broken foot in his first playoffs––that’s plenty tough in my book.
However(!), he is overhyped by the NHL. It’s unfair to him (having to give longer press conferences than other people during the Cup Finals!) and idiotic, because the league has so many fantastic players who are also genuinely good people. Want to expand, give people a wide range of characters they can identify with.
Also, I admire Semin’s critique of dump&chase;hockey. After all the Euro bashing hockey pundits got away with for so long, I don’t mind a guy giving it back.
Posted by Osrt on 10/31/08 at 03:41 PM ET
Semin’s ridiculous comments about Sidney Crosby aside...we all as North American NHL hockey fans should be pissed. His comments about the style and quality of hockey that we ignorant North Americans like to watch just shows that he knows even less about the sport of hockey than he does about judging hockey talent. This clown should first of all make a name for himself first before he criticizes the league that he makes a living in and the fans that support the NHL, come to the arenas and watch games on TV. If the sport is so GD beautiful in Russia...than why aren’t you there playing it? It just boils down to more European elitist BS...but I don’t see them comparing the asthetics of the US or Canadian Dollar to that of the Russian Ruble either…
Posted by Hazy Davy from Pittsburgh, PA on 11/03/08 at 02:44 PM ET
Semin is definately not jealous of the attention Crosby gets. Semin is very well known for avoiding interviews and the media all together. Now I can’t deny that Crosby is a great player, but the attention he gets casts a shadow over other talented players in the league, some of which I believe are much better than him. Also, another thing to greatly consider is that Semin did this interview speaking Russian through an interpreter. It’s hard to say exactly how accurate the traslation was. It may have come out more harsh than he intended. I don’t think he meant to say that Crosby wasn’t an outstanding player, just not a player who was the absolute best in the league, which I agree with 100%. A premier player in the league, absolutely. The best player in the league and the next Wayne Gretzky, not a chance.
Posted by FNwicked from Winchester, VA on 11/07/08 at 03:43 PM ET
Hey FNwicked....I’ll defer to Michel Therrien when responding to Semin’s...and your analysis of Sidney Crosby…
“Is he talking about the youngest guy to get 100 points in the history of the National Hockey League? Is he talking about the youngest guy to win the Hart Trophy and lead the league in scoring? Is he talking about the youngest captain in the National Hockey League to bring his team to the Stanley Cup Final? That’s all I have to say.”
Why is it so hard for people to admit that this guy is the best hockey player in the league and deserves the accolades? If you would watch him on a nightly basis you would soon get it. The last time a player possessed that kind of ice presence and “eyes in the back of his head” passing ability and awareness of teammates he wore #66. The big difference there is Sid’s work ethic and training regimen is more rigorous and diligent than anyone’s in the league. And he works his tail off in every game from whistle to whistle. The only knock on him right now is...I wish he was more of a puck hog and would shoot the puck instead of looking to make the perfect set up play...he needs to use that incredible shot he has a lot more.
Posted by Hazy Davy on 11/07/08 at 04:11 PM ET
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They got him a world-class winger. That winger decided to leave and is playing better with Datsyuk than he ever did with Crosby (how ironic- the security code to post is ne13xt).
And then there were the stories about how a player has to have certain mentality/attributes to be good on Crosby’s wing? I thought the stars made others better. I guess only if they suit them?
Maybe there’s something to all of this. Maybe there isn’t. We’ll see.
Posted by Shane from Lubbock on 10/31/08 at 10:51 AM ET