You could argue that Alexander Semin is the best free agent left on the market and probably be right. The lack of action the up-and-down Russian winger has seen, however, tells us something else is up. After all, a guy capable of 30-40 goals per season shouldn’t just sit around waiting for an offer in a thin free agent year.
Dmitry Chesnokov of Yahoo! Sports reports Semin doesn’t have a timetable set on when to sign a deal, regardless of who a contract offer comes from be it the KHL or the NHL. While he has offers from teams, Semin wouldn’t confirm who made them.
One team that may have made an offer is CSKA Moscow in the KHL. According to Slava Malamud of Sport-Express in Russia, Semin may have a three-year, $30 million offer from Sergei Fedorov’s team. It’s not confirmed if that offer is legitimate, however. While that’s bigger money than he would see in the NHL, contracts in Russia aren’t guaranteed.
While there are teams in the NHL that could use Semin’s offensive abilities, it seems his history of being difficult to handle on and off the ice is seemingly scaring teams off.