The Montreal Canadiens placed winger Alex Semin on waivers today.
#habs confirm, Semin is on waivers.
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) December 7, 2015
Semin, 31, was signed by the Montreal Canadiens over the summer to a one year contract worth $1.1 million dollars after his contract was bought out by the Carolina Hurricanes. Things looked great when head coach Michel Therrien placed Semin on a line with Lars Eller and Alex Galchenyuk as the trio were the talk of the Habs training camp. Semin had two assists in his second regular season game against the Boston Bruins but could only convert another goal and assist afterwards in 15 NHL games. Semin was scratched for several games and bounced between several lines, only looking strong in powerplay situations.
The issue in Montreal wasn’t a problem with the coach but a problem with his skating. Despite fantastic possession statistics at times, Semin’s skating speed just wasn’t enough for the Montreal Canadiens style of game. His last strong game with the Canadiens came playing on the fourth line, providing an offensive punch with some of the slower skaters on the club. With Brendan Gallagher injured for several more weeks, it’s surprising for the Montreal Canadiens to dump one of their offensive minded right handed wingers but it just goes to show how low his value is on the Habs.
Thankfully, the Canadiens were only paying him for one year and with youth call-ups like Sven Andrighetto and Daniel Carr looking good up in the big club, Montreal can afford to place Semin on waivers. It’s hard to say if he will be picked up by someone else, but it would be a definite low risk option. Not all NHL clubs play at Montreal’s tempo and with slower skaters, it could work to his pace. I’d take a watchful eye on the New Jersey Devils in taking a tab on Semin.
