Washington Capitals: Dmitry Orlov 2020 Report Card

Reviewing the season of Washington Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov.

Dmitry Orlov of the Washington Capitals is one of the best pure defenders on the team but had two down seasons in a row. Regardless, he is back for next season and expect his game to undergo a big change with a new pairing partner in Justin Schultz.

Orlov scored four goals and added 23 assists for 27 points through 69 games played while averaging 22:10 minutes of ice time. Orlov had a 53.3 percent five on five shot attempt percentage, a 53.1 percent five on five expected goals percentage and a 48.9 five on five goal percentage.

Orlov had the strongest relative numbers for pushing shot attempts and expected goals, while he was on the ice the Caps saw an improvement of 2.9 percentage points in shot attempts and 3.1 points in expected goals. This comes from keeping his opponents in check and not allowing two many shots by his man.

More from Editorials

• Alex Ovechkin will score 50 goals in 2023-24
• It’s time for Capitals fans to chill out with the Anthony Mantha hate
• The Capitals Have Several Potentially Bad Contracts
• Nic Dowd looks to show reliability
• Dylan Strome’s Contract Could Be A Steal For The Capitals

Now the Caps are undergoing major changes starting at the top with head coach Peter Laviolette, who is known as a defensive coach. He’ll love having the reliability of Orlov on his unit. Perhaps we may see more of a two way game for Orlov as Laviolette also likes to get his defensemen involved in the offense.

Dmitry Orlov also had good advanced stats. His Corsi For percentage finished at 53.37 percent in the regular season, his Fenwick For percentage came out at 52.82 percent and he had a 50.38 percent High Danger Chances For percentage.

Inside the bubble in Toronto, Orlov had three assists in eight playoff games. His advanced stats were still pretty good. Orlov had a 52.21 percent Corsi For Percentage, a 48.74 percent Fenwick For percentage but a low 33.33 percent High Danger Chances For.

https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1329138647925481483

Orlov has already been training for the season. There was recently a video of him doing hops up a hill that look easy until you realize he’s doing it up a hill and then you feel bad for him in a way. But you shouldn’t because you know he’s grinding hard for the season ahead.

Grade C+: Orlov didn’t have the season he had in 2017-18 but he still improved from a season ago. A C+ is slightly above average for an above average defenseman. We can’t wait to see how he’ll do next season next to Justin Schultz, who comes to D.C. from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Those two will likely be on the second pair.