For all the trouble the Caps blue line experienced in 2017-18, Dmitry Orlov was solid with a very tough workload.
By The Numbers
| 82 | games played |
| 23.1 | time on ice per game |
| 10 | goals |
| 21 | assists |
| 49.8 | 5-on-5 shot-attempt percentage, adjusted |
| 53.0 | 5-on-5 goal percentage, adjusted |
Visualization by HockeyViz
About this visualization: This series of charts made by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows various metrics for the player over the course of the season. A short description of each chart:
- Most common teammates during 5-on-5
- Ice time per game, split up by game state
- 5-on-5 adjusted shot attempts by the team (black) and opponents (red)
- 5-on-5 adjusted shooting percentage by the team (black) and opponents (red)
- Individual scoring events by the player
- 5-on-5 adjusted offensive (black) and defensive (red) zone starts
Peter’s Take
Dmitry Orlov’s role on the Caps blue line has evolved over time. Once an offensively deployed depth defenseman, Orlov is now indisputably doing shutdown work.
He’s playing hard minutes (lower on the chart) and more of them (right on the chart) than he ever has before, and, more importantly, he’s doing it well. Only Matt Niskanen saw a bigger share of his ice time against the opponent’s star players, but Orlov did darn well in that time, limiting those star players to 52 percent of shot attempts during their head-to-head ice time.
| TOI vs stars | TOI% vs stars | SA% vs stars | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niskanen | 507 | 0.40 | 0.45 |
| Orlov | 547 | 0.35 | 0.48 |
| Orpik | 323 | 0.25 | 0.41 |
| Bowey | 120 | 0.18 | 0.37 |
| Djoos | 133 | 0.16 | 0.49 |
| Carlson | 133 | 0.09 | 0.49 |
And despite playing the biggest share of his ice time against stars, Orlov sported the highest overall shot-attempt percentage of anyone except sheltered Christian Djoos and the lowest opponent scoring-chance rate among all defensemen.
There were tons of problems among the Caps defensive corps last season, and exactly none of those problems involved Dmitry Orlov. He was dependable despite very tough assignments, and he got even better in the postseason.
Now entering what will be his age-27 year, Orlov is about to show us his prime. Can a rehabilitated blue line help Orlov increase his offensive involvement? Will the high-risk/high-reward narrative finally leave him alone (and pester John Carlson instead, where it’s merited)?
Orly on RMNB
- Let’s start with this good cat. Okay. Moving on.
- Here, from November, is a great example of how Orlov increases the danger of a Caps attack. He turns an innocuous possession into a slam-dunk goal with Tom Wilson’s help. (Check the article for a top-tier celebration.)
- And this, from the same month, is an absolute scorcher of a slapshot goal.
- Check out how Orlov reads an outlet pass to force a turnover. This one gave Orlov the 100th point of his career.
- We’ve written a lot about how Orlov and Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky are good pals, but that didn’t stop Orlov from being a total fart-knocker towards him in December.
- Orlov lost a tooth to a high stick. He had previously lost this tooth in a separate high stick, which makes me wonder how well in there the tooth actually is. Tactical advantage?
- Orlov’s offense slowed down in the back half of the season, but he’s definitely made big strides in improving his rates from his first few pre-injury years.
- It’s not an Orlov recap without a big submariner check. Josh Anderson missed more than a month after the hit and wasn’t the same in the playoffs.
- Finally, here’s Orlov trying to thread the needle vs Tampa in the playoffs. His first chance is rebuffed, but Oshie feeds him a rebound and he sinks that one.
Your Turn
What’s a reasonable expectation for Orlov’s offensive contributions next season? He notched double-digit goals for the first time this year. After dancing around 30 points for three years, can we ask him to kick up a notch?
Read more: Japers’ Rink
Headline photo: Cara Bahniuk
