Caps Briefing: What is News
When Alexander Semin takes the lead league in points, with 14 in eight games, it is almost news. When Sergei Fedorov matches Alexander Mogilny's record for NHL goals, it is news. When NHL MVP and ESPN presidential nominee Alexander Ovechkin takes the day off to visit an ailing relative, it is multinational front page headline news.
The Associated Press covered Ovechkin's day off. The Vancouver Sun covered Ovechkin's day off. Ovechkin and Pittsburgh Penguin Sidney Crosby are the faces of the NHL. What they do is news. Semin will have to do more than lead the league in scoring after eight games to get his own headlines.
Photo by Eli Resnick
Blogger Eric McErlain notes that Ovechkin may be gone for an extended period of time and points out that opponents will start putting their best defensemen out against Semin. If Semin can keep scoring enough to help the Caps win while Ovechkin is away, it will be interesting to watch the international media reaction.
Last year, when Crosby missed several games with an ankle injury, his teammate Evgeni Malkin momentarily held the league lead in points, before losing it to Ovechkin. Malkin still became one of the favorites for MVP, and ultimately finished among the three finalists in voting. Semin passed Malkin for the current scoring lead on Saturday night.
We are not, of course, saying that Alexander Semin is the most valuable player in the NHL. Ovechkin is still the player the Caps count on to help them win every game. Ovechkin will still probably finish this season with more points than Semin, and give out more bodychecks along the way. Ovechkin will probably play through more gruesome injuries with more pride and start more fights to defend his teammates than Semin.
Still, Semin has the best stickhandling skills of any Capital, ever, and he's one of the most talented goal-scorers in hockey. It would be nice to see him getting as much press for leading the league in scoring as his great teammate gets for taking a personal day.