Capitals' Semin kicked off Team Russia

The Hockey News.com has learned Washington Capitals star Alexander Semin has been kicked off the Russian national team, prompting Semin's agent to refer to the fiasco as, "the most bizarre situation I've ever experienced in hockey, ever." Mark Gandler, who represents Semin, said the Russian team's decision to remove Semin from the team because he arrived hours after the team's first practice was unreasonable and far too harsh. "I don't understand it…there is no explanation for it," Gandler said. "Alexander did nothing wrong, but even if he had, the punishment doesn't fit the crime." A Russian website reported Semin arrived at the national team's camp in Novogorsk three-and-a-half hours after the team's first meeting at the training center. It reported Semin ignored a request from Russian team GM Sergei Nemchinov to change his flight so he would arrive in Moscow on time.

Gandler, however, tells a much different story. He said Nemchinov met with Semin after a game in New York March 10 and told him the training camp to prepare for the World Championship would begin April 16 and for him to call and confirm when he arrived in Moscow.

After finishing the NHL season, Semin arrived in Moscow April 11 en route to his hometown of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, which is a five-hour flight from Moscow. Gandler said Semin called Nemchinov, but was unable to reach him, so he sent a text message with all of his contact information in Krasnoyarsk.

Gandler said he then got a call from Semin April 15 saying he hadn't heard from anyone in the Russian federation. Gandler then placed a call to federation vice president Igor Tuzik, who contacted Nemchinov.

Gandler said Nemchinov then called Semin in the late evening on April 15 and told him he needed to be in Novogorsk, just outside Moscow, by 5 p.m. the next day. Semin told him that logistically it would be impossible for him to make the trip by the time practice started and that he would likely miss the first workout.

Gandler said Semin then called him and said Nemchinov didn't sound pleased with the development, so Gandler called Tuzik and was told that as long as he arrived there that evening, it would be fine. Semin then flew to Moscow and when he arrived there, he called the national team asking where he should report and was told that he was no longer part of the team. Semin spent the night in Moscow and flew back to his hometown yesterday.

"This is ridiculous," Gandler said. "I haven't heard from anyone in the two years since Nemchinov took this job. Don't you think they should have sent him a letter with plane tickets or an itinerary? This is just bizarre." One Russian report suggested that the decision to drop Semin will be reviewed, but Gandler said he hadn't heard anything.