Alex Semin retires from professional hockey, will invite Alex Ovechkin to farewell charity game

Washington Capitals legend Alex Semin is reportedly hanging up his skates. Sport RBC announced the news while publishing about a farewell game the forward is hoping to hold over the summer.

Semin did not play at all during the 2021-22 KHL season. The 38-year-old works as an advisor to the director of the Krasnoyarsk hockey club Sokol in Russia’s VHL league, the second tier of hockey in the country.

Semin is calling it quits after 650 games at the NHL level where he spent time with the Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes, and Montreal Canadiens. Semin also dressed for 381 games for five different KHL teams in Russia.

In July of 2017, Semin, then 35, signaled his career was winding down when he applied to a master’s degree program in Metallurgy of Non-Ferrous Metals at Siberian Federal University. He did not play in the 2017-18 KHL season but ended up returning for three more seasons starting in 2018-19.

Semin will now close his career in 2022 by hosting a charity game in Krasnoyarsk where he was born. The game will take place at the Platinum Arena. Players invited to play include his long-time bestie Alex Ovechkin, former Caps winger Ilya Kovalchuk, Evgeni Malkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Kirill Kaprizov, and others.

Denis Petrovsky, the Minister of Sports in Krasnoyarsk, collaborated with Semin on the idea as a “beautiful end to a playing career”. The proceeds from the ticket sales will go to orphanages in the area as well as to the development of sled hockey in Krasnoyarsk.

Semin retires as the sixth-leading goal scorer in Capitals history with 197 goals. His 40-goal season in 2009-10 remains the only season a Caps player has reached the 40-goal mark in the Ovechkin era outside of Ovi himself.

We wish a wonderful retirement to one of the best shots in hockey history!