Players have come and gone from the Capitals in recent years, short-timers who got a glimpse at the locker room culture during this first half of the Alex Ovechkin era. But because the majority of the roster has remained stable, we’ve rarely heard candid comments from the inside. Now we have. Former Caps forward Matt Bradley, who signed as a free agent this summer with the Florida Panthers, gave a frank assessment during a radio interview Wednesday with Ottawa radio station Team 1200. Bradley had especially strong words about mercurial winger Alexander Semin.
“I don’t mind saying Alexander Semin’s name, because he’s one guy who has so much talent, he could easily be the best player in the league and just for whatever reason just doesn’t care,” Bradley told the radio station. “When you’ve got a guy like that, you need him to be your best player or one of your best players, and when he doesn’t show up, you almost get the sense that he wants to be back in Russia.”
Those are public thoughts echoing what many in Washington’s organization have long thought. The sad part is Semin helps fuel that narrative by too often disengaging with teammates, staff and media. Maybe there are legitimate reasons for that. Semin, a native of Siberia, is far from home, immersed in a different language and a different culture. He likely would feel out of place in Moscow, let alone Washington. But he also gets paid $6.7 million a season and has been in North America on-and-off since 2003. Is Semin the root cause of all the Caps’ problems? Not at all. But they need more from him — and not just 30 goals. Having said that, Bradley is still bullish on Ovechkin and the Caps.
“I never worry about [Ovechkin]. He’s an all-in guy,” Bradley said. “He’s young. He makes his mistakes — the same as anyone would. … You’ve got to remember, he’s 25 years old, he’s got a guaranteed $120 million, he’s on top of the world and he still, for the most part, makes the right decisions. I don’t worry about him. I don’t worry about most of the guys on that team, and that’s why I think in the end they’ll do well.”
– Brian McNally
