Photo credit: Bruce Bennett

One of the remaining mysteries of this free agency season is what will be done with the elite-scoring, media-baffling Alex Semin. Now that Suter and Parise have picked their fates and signed their contracts, Semin is the remaining conspicuous free agent. Rumors abound that Semin is looking for a long-term deal, only to be rebuffed because GMs like Carolina’s Jim Rutherford have “heard the stories about him.”

Meanwhile, the Capitals inchoate lineup for 2012-13 lacks at least one top-six forward. Now, Semin’s agent Mark Gandler tells Sovetysky Sport that the Capitals have been asking Semin to come back “all the time.”

In speaking with S. Begishev of Sovetsky Sport, Gandler states twice that he would not comment on Semin’s negotiations– and then comments specifically on Semin’s negotiations.

First, Gandler dismisses rumors that Semin has been offered a three-year, $30 million deal by the KHL club CSKA, urging that we media folks should not listen to “what people without knowledge are saying.” Gandler reiterates what he’s said before: “The NHL is our priority.”

Begishev asked specifically about Semin and the Capitals:

Begishev: Why is Semin, who had almost 60 points under Washington’s defensive-minded system, not a priority for the Capitals?

Gandler: That’s all made up. Washington asks us to come back all the time. But again, I don’t want to comment on the Semin negotiations.

So despite vociferously refusing to comment on Semin’s status, his agent has given us two juicy nuggets: 1) rumors of a KHL deal are lies, dirty lies; and 2) Caps + Sasha = BFFs.

Yeah, we’ll probably keep you posted on this story.

Translation by Fedor Fedin. Holla at Dmitry Chesnokov for the heads-up.