During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Semin returned to Russia and played 50 games for Lada Togliatti, recording 19 goals and 11 assists and compiling a plus-minus rating of +15. The Capitals suspended him for that whole season for not reporting to their then-AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates, preferring the club's younger players to play the locked-out season with their farm team. (Alexander Ovechkin, meanwhile, the Capitals' 2004 first-round pick, remained with his Russian club, Dynamo Moscow, because the Capitals felt he would have been ready to play in the NHL.)