Ahead of participating in the Match of the Year, San Jose Sharks defenseman Dmitry Orlov celebrated his 35th birthday in Saint Petersburg, Russia, with Alex Ovechkin, going on a boat ride and having dinner together.
Orlov played the first 12 seasons of his career with the Washington Capitals from 2011 to 2023, winning a Stanley Cup championship with the team and forming a friendship with the captain that remains strong to this day. The pair is so close, in fact, that Varvara Orlova, Dmitry’s wife, is Sergei Ovechkin’s godmother.
Speaking to Sport24.ru’s Dmitry Erykalov recently, Orlov admitted that while he has a direct line to Ovi, he had no advanced notice that the Capitals’ great was returning for another year — his 22nd season in the NHL — just like Ovi’s current teammates.
“I didn’t know beforehand; he made the decision within the family,” Orlov told the outlet, per a translation by Google Translate. “But there was a sneaking feeling that he was more likely to stay than not. Sasha took a rest and saw that the team was getting stronger. The team owes him something after so many years of his career.
“It’s a plus for everyone that he’s still playing. His great story continues. It’s a great story – playing his entire career for one team, winning the Stanley Cup, and breaking the greatest record ever. I’m sure he still has the energy to play.”
Orlov added that he didn’t get any insider information either when San Jose played Washington at Capital One Arena in January.
“No, that didn’t happen,” Orlov said. “We flew in two days before the game, saw each other, had dinner together, and talked. He didn’t look like he was saying goodbye to hockey. We’ll see how it goes this year. Maybe he’ll change his mind and stay another year!”
Despite being gone from the Capitals’ organization for three years, Orlov’s heartstrings still get pulled when he returns to the area — though the experience is different because many of the players he once played with have moved on.
“Games against the Capitals are tough, especially in Washington,” Orlov said. “That’s 12 years of my American life. It’s a warm time for me. At the same time, there aren’t many guys left on the team who I played with. Sasha will leave, and only (Tom) Wilson will be left.
“I never thought that (John) Carlson would move to Anaheim and then sign with Tampa. And when Ovechkin leaves, an entire era will be over. It will be cool to sit back and remember playing with such a great hockey player, against the equally great (Sidney) Crosby and (Evgeni) Malkin. When they leave, it will be sad that it’s over.”
Since entering the league together in 2005, Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby have won a combined four Stanley Cups, 5 Hart Trophies as league MVP, and 11 Rocket Richard Trophies as the NHL’s leading goal-scorer. The pair recently played their 100th game against each other, regular season and playoffs combined.
In those rivalry games, Crosby holds a point advantage (127 to 104), while Ovechkin has more goals (53 to 48). Overall in their careers, Ovechkin has won more individual NHL trophies (19 to 12), but Crosby has more Stanley Cups (3 to 1) and career points (1,761 to 1,686).
Orlov himself faced the Penguins 58 times during his Capitals career, including 18 games across three consecutive playoff years. After beating the Capitals in 2016 and 2017, the Penguins repeated as Stanley Cup champions in 2016 and 2017 while the Capitals captured their first championship in 2018 after going through the Penguins in the second round of that year’s postseason.
The Capitals kept largely the same roster heading into 2019, hoping to repeat as champions, but were eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes in a physical first-round series. The team began being broken up afterward as stars like Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov eventually departed.
“We tried. Apparently, not enough,” Orlov said. “But there were other factors, too. COVID hit, Trotz left, and if we take 2019 as an example, we lost the first round to Carolina. It was a tough series. If we’d gotten past them, we could have reached the Cup. Then everything changed dramatically.”
Orlov, the Capitals’ second-round pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, will be entering his 15th season in the NHL, and sitting directly in front of him is a huge milestone: he’s 51 games away from 1,000 in his career.
“It’s a nice number, and it’s just around the corner,” Orlov said. “But reaching it won’t be the end of hockey for me. I want to sign a new contract. I want to prepare well for the season and help the team improve compared to last season. For now, those are just my thoughts.”
