It appears Alexander Semin is disappointing two teams this season.
The highly-paid Carolina Hurricanes winger is mired in a rather mediocre year with just 18 points in 34 games. Considering he's in the first year of a five-year, $35 million contract, you can imagine why Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford wouldn't be pleased with his performance.
The Hurricanes GM spoke with WTVD's Mark Armstrong about his team on Friday, offering up pointed criticism of Semin's lack of production this season.
He came off a great year, and we are all very disappointed with his production at this time. He's a guy who is paid to score goals and put up points, and he hasn't done that. He's trying to play an east-west game when the rest of the team is playing a north-south game, and he needs to get his act going pretty soon... I do think it's the focus and the will to do well. The same will to do well that he had in his contract year. He is probably the most skilled player on this team, and when he wants to play, he can do it. He needs to start."
A lack of focus and will, huh? Isn't that the same criticism he faced in Washington?
Rutherford also mentioned that, if Carolina hadn't offered Semin a contract, he would've bolted for the KHL. But he's not exactly in great standing in Russia either. Semin was left off of Russia's Olympic roster, with head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov stating that "he didn't play as we expected" after watching him in Carolina this season.
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