Tribute What would your all time Caps team look like?

Semin is far better than a lot of wingers on these list... he certainly is greater than Wilson, Oshie, and Vrana that I see a lot of.

 

Greater talent no doubt, maybe the most talented of all Caps in pure raw skill, but not a greater player when you want to win a Cup.

 

A better player than Tom Wilson? I would argue that is not clear at all. Meanwhile I would suggest that Dave Christian was better and more impactful than Semin and half the people here don't know who he is. Lastly, better than TJ Oshie? If the Caps had peak Semin instead of Oshie, they don't win the cup. God mode was one of the great things ever but that player wasn't one of the 4 best RW's in team history

 

He was absolutely a better player than Oshie but Oshie's impact on the franchise is far greater.

In a vacuum I'd take Oshie over Semin too just because Oshie's tenacity & 2-way game offsets the difference in skill IMO

 

He’s integral in the room too.

 

I got lots of love for Oshie, probably my 2nd favorite Cap ever. But its easy to overrate all the guys on these current Caps team since they finally won. Oshie I get, but Wilson and Vrana belong no where near the All time Caps team (yet). Its not like the Caps were a garbage franchise for 40 years until they won.

 

Easy to overrate? I mean come on....I didn’t mention Vrana or Wilson. You lumped Oshie in with them lol...

 

I wasn’t talking about you...

Anyways the point is in the Caps 40 year history having 7ish guys from one Cap era team is a little much.

 

What about 20?

 

Why? The players are either better or they are not

 

And that, right there, is why Semin should not make anyone's all time list.

 

Slightly OT, but would you guys rank the 2017 team as the greatest Caps team ever on paper?
Or was it the 1990 one that got to the Conference Finals vs the Bruins?

 

Semins 2-way game was heavily underrated by many around here. He was an elite level PKer (there was a 1.5 season stretch where he scored as many short handed goals as he was on the ice for PP goals against). His even strength defense was high quality as well (and certainly far above Ovechkin’s), to the point where his skill with stick takeaways ended up getting him a reputation with the refs that led to his penalties.

 

Semin had all kinds of elite skills. Many, including me, thought he was more talented than Ovechkin. Its in the application of that ability where Semin falls short. "You've got a gift, Roy. But its not enough."

 

There’s more to hockey than skill. Semin wasn’t especially strong or quick/fast, he had decent hockey sense but nothing elite. These expectations Semin had were always ridiculous.

 

When he wanted to, Semin could hit like a truck. When he wanted to he could be strong defensively. When he wanted to he could stop talking lazy stick penalties.

He just had a different personality. It showed in the difference in speaking English between Ov and Semin. Semin's teammates were not always impressed by him either. Its like the difference between Backstrom and Kuznetsov

 

revisionist history.....his repeated (and sometimes lazy) stick checks/lifts led to his repeated penalties.....Not some made up fan theory that he was treated unfairly by the refs. His style was to use his stick often, no problem there....but that led to penalties occasionally.

 

Punishing a player for what he wasn't, while ignoring what he was, always seemed like a particularly silly way to evaluate a player. The fact his skill ceiling is so high that people are upset he wasn't even better than he was should count as benefit, not a blemish. He was one heck of a hockey player, regardless of whether or not you think he achieved his potential.

"This 0.87 point/game player isn't on our all time team because I think he could have been a 1.0 pt/game player if he really cared more!"

 

When you compare Semin to other Caps winger greats in the top-6, skill alone just isn’t enough for me as clearly it is for some.

It’s style over substance for me personally...

The dude, even if he is not on every Cap’s fan’s final list, he’s right there still among the greats. Semin was a maddening player for me personally, much like Kovalev was for many I’m sure, but I respect what he was....and also still wish for what he could have been.

 

Who is doing that? The question was why isn't Semin higher on the list or not on someone's list? If that it the question, the reasons are not all the things he was good at. Right?

 

I was actually more in awe of Semin at times than Ovechkin. Semin was one of the most naturally gifted players I've ever watched. His wrist shot goal against Nashville off a drop pass from MoJo remains the nicest release I've ever seen.

 

a thing of unmatched beauty when it connected, an odd man break or blown zone possession the other way when it would go wide, both of which happened a LOT.

me, I’d still take Ovy’s unmatched power and clutch accuracy.

 

God mode.

 

The NBCSN crew had a draft, I was most surprised to see how low Gonchar and Ridley went, and Laing being drafted