Oh please. Watch each without the puck in isolation, and then try make that argument. They're not close and when you factor in the harder D responsibilities of a C, it becomes an even bigger gap.
Or if you insist, use your beloved stats, just for Semin's time as a Hurricane (not over the last 6 years where Caps' stats skew in Semin's favor). Massive gap, just as the eye test demonstrates.
Besides, with these great skills playing without the puck, why doesn't Semin play the PK or a checking line when he's not scoring? Perhaps those silly coaches haven't seen the numbers over the last 6 years.
Lol, talk about circumstances skewing stats in someone's favor?
You mean like Bergeron spending 50% of his ice time with a guy who was the best defensive defenseman in the world over that stretch?
Bergeron's 4 most common defensemen teammates: Chara, Seidenberg, Boychuk, Ference
Semin's 4 most common defensemen teammates: Jeff Schultz, John Carlson, Mike Green, Karl Alzner
Bergeron's 2 most common goalies w/ sv% behind him: Tuukka Rask, Tim Thomas (.931)
Semin's 2 most common goalies w/sv% behind him: Michal Neuvirth, Tomas Vokoun (.930)
in these time frames, those Bruins' 4 were all in their prime. Carlson and Alzner weren't nearly what they are now when Semin was a cap. Schultz was horrendous, and Mike Green has never been what one would call "good" defensively
IF you believe in a player impacting their goalies SV%, you tell me which is more impressive:
a) Semin somehow getting .930 goaltending with young/awful defensemen and mediocre goalies
b) Bergeron getting .931 goaltending with elite defensive defensemen and two of the best goalies in the world in that stretch
Semin's shot suppression numbers from his Washington days aren't any good anyway because of Boudreau's wide open system. Don't believe that? This season Anaheim has exactly 0 of their forwards in the top 70 in SA/60.
Ryan ****ing Kesler ranks 208th in the league amongst forwards with at least 500 minutes in SA/60.
Bergeron has had the benefit of always playing in Julien's tight system with Big Z behind him shutting everything down.
This season under Peters, Semin's shot suppression has been excellent. The gap between Bergeron and Semin in shots against per 60 minutes is literally less than one. That's how much of an impact coaching and systems have on shot suppression and corsi numbers
You think Semin doesn't PK? Here are some "two way forwards" that have spent less time PKing than Semin since 2010:
Shane Doan, Dwight King, Justin Williams, Brandon Saad, Kris Versteeg, Clarke MacArthur, Jordan Eberle, Nathan Gerbe, Eric Fehr.
And just to be clear, that's irrelevant. It is utterly irrelevant how many minutes Semin gets on the PK when considering his ability away from the puck. Coaches are imperfect.
None of this is to say that Bergeron isn't excellent. You won't find a bigger fan of his than me, I think he's the best two way forward in the world. I just don't think Semin is that far behind him in terms of playing away from the puck, and over a HUGE sample size Semin has a better GF% despite playing with worse defensive teammates and playing in front of worse goalies.