Ovechkin's reaction to Semin's removal

Vogs does a solid follow up on the Semin situation, which details Ovechkin's reaction to Semin's removal from the team. Check it out here.

As would be expected, the Russian Machine walks the delicate line of expressing his sadness that his friend was cut, but also understanding as to why the move was made.

It's also very interesting that Semin had to hear the news that he was cut secondhand from Ovechkin and not directly from a team official. That smacks of unprofessionalism. Then again, Semin probably called Ovechkin before any team officials when he arrived in Moscow.

To me, the organizers for Team Russia should have done a much better job handling the situation. If they were going to cut Semin, they should have let him know before he caught a flight to Moscow. And they definitely should have alerted him to the situation before he heard it from someone else. It's very clear that team officials were making a statement with their actions, but in the way they did it they made another, less flattering one about themselves.

Just a bad situation all around.