NHL Trade Rumors: Why the Detroit Red Wings Should Acquire Alexander Semin

Washington Capitals winger Alexander Semin is set to make $6.7 million this season as he enters the final year of his current contract, and with several young players to sign long-term next summer, the Caps should trade him. The Detroit Red Wings are a good fit for several reasons.

For starters, the Red Wings are one of the few Stanley Cup contenders with good salary cap space, and, according to CapGeek.com, they currently have about $5.85 million cap room.

This means that the Capitals wouldn't have to take as much salary back in exchange for Semin as they would in a deal with contenders like the Vancouver Canucks, Philadelphia Flyers or New York Rangers, who all have less than $3 million cap space for the 2011-12 season.

The Capitals have the futures of young defensemen John Carlson and Mike Green to determine next summer, and both are quality players that Washington should sign long term.

Carlson and Green won't sign cheap though, and it's very unlikely that both could sign and the Capitals still have enough cap room to extend Semin long term.

The Red Wings, on the other hand, could use a young offensive talent capable of scoring 35 goals consistently.

Semin is 27 years old and has scored 58, 84 and 79 points the past three seasons, scoring at least 28 goals in each.

In 37 playoff games for Washington, Semin has 30 points. With a veteran-stocked roster in Detroit that's full of Stanley Cup Champions, Semin will likely have the opportunity to shine far greater in the playoffs with the Red Wings than he did with the Capitals.

Most of the offensive stars for the Red Wings are 30 years of age or older. Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen and Tomas Holmstrom are all over 30 years old. Henrik Zetterberg will be 31 in early October.

Detroit has lost to the San Jose Sharks in each of the last two playoffs, but with another top scorer like Semin in their lineup, they could have beaten the Sharks both times.

The Red Wings can't lose in this scenario because, in acquiring Semin, they get a top-line player who can score goals. And if they choose not to give him a big contract at the end of the season, they'll have lots of salary cap space to sign a star in a very deep 2012 free-agent class that could include Shea Weber and Zach Parise.

The Capitals have not won anything with Semin, so trading him for value and knowing they can sign Carlson and Green long-term should be enough to persuade them to part ways with the talented forward.

The Red Wings would have all the talent they'd need to make another run at a Stanley Cup with Semin, and what better way would there be to send Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom into retirement than with the Stanley Cup in his arms one last time?

Nicholas Goss is a Boston Bruins featured columnist for Bleacher Report and was the organization's on-site reporter for the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals in Boston. Follow him on Twitter for NHL news and analysis. Follow @NicholasGoss35.