Recognizing that Price was injured, I think Therien used Semin (and played off the Canadian media prejudices against a guy like Semin) to show the team that he was Le Petit General and that if Hab forwards didn't play the Michel Therien way every second of every shift, and pay attention to whatever details Michel Therien was obsessing over in any given week - they'd be gone.
That team didn't just suck because Price was hurt. That team sucked because it was obvious the players hated the coach and the coach's system - and I think he started to lose the team when he summarily sacked Semin after a very short sample size of games (where he didn't really play that bad) and a couple of Semin-esque stick penalties, even though the team was enjoying a ridiculously great record over the first 15 or 20 games. After that, the forwards played not to piss off Michel Therien, which is no way synonymous with playing to win.
Glad to see the year have a happy ending for Semin. The guy was always very entertaining (and equally infuriating) to watch. That wrist shot . . . by itself, that wrist shot made it worthwhile to get to the game 45 minutes early to see the warm-up.