Hearing that the Canadiens will put Alex Semin on waivers. Hasn't worked out. — James Mirtle (@mirtle) December 7, 2015

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Alexander Semin, former 40 goal scorer, has been placed on waivers. He was signed in the off season by the Montreal Canadiens for a measly 1.1 million dollars a year, for one year. They were expecting cheap second line level production, and didn't really get it. Semin has had a measly 1 goal and 3 assists in 15 games so far this season.

I'm going to spit an incredibly hot take right here. Like, sun levels of hot. The #hawttaek to taek them all.

Maybe a player with a 1.1 million cap hit... doesn't NEED to be a 40 goal scorer for their contract to be worth it?

Alexander Semin has been a very good defensive player all his career, and this season especially. This season, the Habs have had much better possession numbers than they have in the past, and Semin has probably helped that. His 55.5% Corsi for $ and 3.3% CorsiRel are very good, and not far off from his career numbers of 54.3% and 3.4% respectively. His Fenwick isn't far off. His career GA60 on the PK is 4.61, which is a better number than any Bruins forward has posted this season so far.

His dCorsiImpact so far this season has been 10.47, and per 60 minutes that's 4.03. This means that Semin has done better than an average player would given the same minutes. There are only 4 players on the Bruins with better numbers than that. They are Bergeron, Marchand, Eriksson, and Chara. That's damn good company to keep, especially when you're being paid a fraction of what those guys are earning.

If you were on the "Chris Kelly is good, but not worth the money" bandwagon, then you should love Semin. He provides Chris Kelly level defensive production with a third of the cap hit.

If you really, really must think that Semin needs to contribute offensively for his 1.1 million dollar contract to be worth it, then you should know the numbers indicate that the pucks will likely start going in for him soon. His 6.76 shots/60 are around on par with Matt Beleskey, and better than Bruins like David Krejci, Loui Eriksson, and Brett Connolly. While his shots/60 are lower than his career average, indicating that he probably has lost some of his offensive touch, the real problem has been his shooting percentage. So far this season it's been below 6%, well off from his career 10.4%. Fret not, the pucks will start going in for Semin eventually.

The biggest obstacle towards getting Semin is roster space. The Bruins are currently at the 23 man roster limit. To claim Semin, the Bruins would have to send down one a player. Frank Vatrano, Colin Miller, and Jonas Kemppainen are all waiver exempt and could be sent down and recalled later at no penalty. The problem is, you couldn't play those guys in the next few games until you send down another player who isn't exempt from waivers. To get Semin, the Bruins would have to send down one of those 3 players, send in a claim, hope no other team has priority, get Semin, waive Randell, hope no team claims HIM, send him down, and then recall whoever they sent down in the first place. The whole process could take days, and it would leave at least one Bruin out of commission for a player they may not even be able to get.

So is Semin a worthless aging star? Or is he a guy providing great bottom six value to a cap strapped division rival?

Who do you send down?

Does Randell make it through waivers?