Penalty Mongers: Who Will Pay?

After last night's 4-2 loss to the Flyers, in which the team took nine penalties for the second consecutive game, Coach Bruce Boudreau uttered this nugget, as chronicled in The Washington Post:

"There comes a time when you have to start doing something about it," Boudreau said. "Maybe that time is now instead of just talking about it."

Asked if he meant benching players, he said: "Yeah. There's a couple out there."

But who should be benched? Thanks to Japers' Rink, we know that the biggest penalty offenders in terms of PIMs per 60 minutes are Donald Brashear, Chris Clark (out for the rest of the year), Alex Semin, Shaone Morrisonn, John Erskine and Sergei Fedorov. We also know that Semin is at the top of the list when it comes to hooking penalties and similar infractions.

But would Boudreau actually scratch Semin to prove a point? It's certainly an interesting quandary for a player who has one more year (after this one) on his contract and has been at the center of much controversy.

These types of penalties, players often say, are due to a failure to move one's feet or be in the right position at the right time. Of those players on Japers' list, Brashear doesn't get a lot of ice time and, quite frankly, is on the ice for a specific purpose; most of the time, Brash getting a penalty is expected.

Morrisonn and Erskine are other options but both have been scratched this year and don't seem to be able to expand their roles. In fact, Mo's contract is up at the end of the year and he might even be back next season.

So that leaves Semin. Scratching him would send the biggest statement, especially because he's the second-leading goal-scorer (tied with Mike Green) on the team and he's good friends with Alex Ovechkin. This could be one of the biggest decisions of Boudreau's tenure so far behind the bench.

We'll find out tomorrow night.