On Frozen Blog

I walked into Kettler at mid-day Monday, with Development Camp not yet four hours old, and before I could set my laptop bag down two members of local hockey media approached me with the same message: “Just focus on Orlov.”

So I did. And wow, just like these friends in media, I have liked what I’ve seen. Man-crush liked.

Orlov is Dmitri Orlov, the Capitals’ second-round selection, 55th overall, at last month’s Entry Draft in Montreal. At the time of his selection, there was a modest bit of buzz that Orlov very well could have been a first-round talent and bluechip prospect who slipped largely by virtue of the absence of a transfer agreement between his country and the NHL. Orlov played 16 games in the KHL last season, Russia’s top professional league, and he skated for Russia at the World Under-20 Championships, earning designation as one of the top three performers for the Russian team. 

Now, Orlov’s size — 5 ’11, 180 — may also have led more than a few NHL organizations to deem him safe for the second round but a bit of a reach in round one. The interesting thing about 5 ’11, 180 is that sometimes it can look “hockey big” — not big by NHL defenseman standards, of course, but in possession of a helpful stockiness that often makes a player difficult to knock off the puck. I shared a Ballston Mall elevator with Orlov and a few of his camp teammates early Wednesday evening, all of them dressed casually youthful (befitting of their youth) for summer. Orlov looked fantastically fit and naturally strong — he had what I’d term a hockey build; he certainly didn’t appear to need anything in the way of dramatic weight training to make him NHL ready. 

Orlov this week has made an impression on Capitals’ head coach Bruce Boudreau. On Thursday Boudreau told Alex Perlmutter of the Capital Letter, “I think Orlov’s really making an impression. [He] does a lot of things
well for a guy that doesn’t know the language. He’s got pure skill and
he plays a tough game too.”

Another veteran Development Camp observer with a keen eye for hockey talent, Mike Vogel, had this to say of Orlov after Wednesday’s first scrimmage: “Orlov was adept at keeping the puck in at the blueline on the power
play and was solid all over the ice. His passes were sharp and he
showed a willingness to use his body.”

Some other things you should consider about the newest Russian to join the Capitals’ organization:

• Orlov was the 10th ranked skater among European skaters according to the Central Scouting Bureau in the bureau’s final pre-draft rankings.

• Red Line Report called him a “smallish rearguard” but also “a terrific puck mover,” a blueliner who “Reads developing plays quickly and makes good decisions starting offensive plays in transition . . . he fires hard, low point shots that he consistently gets on net with accuracy.

• More from Red Line: Orlov “Instinctively slides laterally to create shooting lanes. Has good vision and distributes the puck well . . . Patient and poised with the puck all over the ice . . . always has his head up looking for a play. Creates separation against forecheckers in corners with quick spins, turns and head feints. Loves to join the rush.”

• “A riverboat gambler,” one scout said describing Orlov. “He has a great skill set from an offensive point of view. His skill set will give him a chance to play at the next level.”

• Another scout quoted in the leadup to the draft: “He’s not big, but he’s talented and has an edge to his game . . . He makes good decisions.”

• Still another scout offered this: “he has the agility and the mobility . . . I like the way he tries to make a difference.” And I really like this scout’s concluding observation: “He’s a little erratic, but you’d rather tame a horse than light a fire under a guy.”

• The International Scouting Service said of Orlov, “He loves to rush the puck up ice and has very good inside out moves to get the puck and himself in deep into the offensive zone. Overall, a very hard-nosed player that everyone would love to have on his team.”

Everyone in the Capitals’ organization out at Development Camp this week already seems to love having Orlov here. The Red Line evaluation of Orlov’s skating — his creating separation with fabulous turns and bursts and head feints — is what I especially noticed out at Kettler Wednesday and Thursday. He showcased a real slippery, slithering quality along the boards with the puck on pinches, with terrific agility and eye-opening sudden stops and starts. It’s along the boards making plays with the puck, a place where every player wears a target for his opponents, that Orlov seems particularly comfortable. 

In Thursday’s scrimmage, he suffered a rare lapse in footwork at mid-ice on one shift that allowed the puck to get behind him and along the half boards, and as he retrieved it two opposing forwards bore down on him hard and fast. He used his body to shield them off the puck, then hot-footed a few eye-blink fast feats of fancy footwork to extract himself out of harm’s way in those tight quarters, his puck possession never seriously threatened. It was, I thought, rather elite looking.

For a fair portion of Thursday’s scrimmage Orlov was paired on the blueline with John Carlson. Foreshadowing?   

Of course, there is great caution that needs to be exercised in forming firm impressions from but a couple of summer scrimmages on a sheet of ice featuring only a small number of true international talents, and many more free agents and junior talents. Still, Orlov is standing out at this Develoment Camp much the way that John Carlson did at last year’s. And he arrived here armed with ample bona fides from the best scouting services.

The 2009 Draft was forecasted to be terrifically deep in talent. Someone figured to score a serious talent, a special hockey player, in round two. What if it was the Caps with Orlov?