Dmitri Orlov's North American Debut

Me, my sign, and Dmitri Orlov (photo by Ian Oland, thank you)

Being a Spitfires fan for the past few seasons, I tend to follow former Spitfires in their careers. Adam Henrique, one of my favorite Spitfires, as well as former Spitfires captain Harry Young, were drafted by the New Jersey Devils during their time in the OHL. Both players aged out of the CHL this past season, and were assigned to the Albany Devils out of training camp.

When I saw that the Hershey Bears were playing the Devils on a Saturday at Giant Center, I bought second row tickets several months in advance.

Imagine my surprise when a week before the game, the news broke that the Capitals' 2009 second-round draft pick Dmitri Orlov was on his way to Hershey, and was expected to make his debut on the day the Bears played the Albany Devils.

Being an Orlov fan, I set about making a sign in Russian to welcome him to Hershey. He saw the sign during warmups and smiled and nodded to me, and as the game began, I put on my proverbial blogger hat and watched Orlov very closely as he made his entrance into the AHL.

It definitely was like watching a superstar in the making. Despite spending his entire career to date on Russian ice, which is larger than North American ice, Orlov didn't miss a beat and seemed completely at ease. Paired with veteran defenseman Patrick Wellar, the two were very aware of each other despite speaking different languages.

Orlov was remarkably composed and didn't many mistakes. He spent time on the power play, on the second unit, where he showed off his booming shot from the blue line. One of those attempted shots led to a Steve Pinizzotto goal -- Orlov got the secondary assist on the PPG for his first AHL point in his first game (the next day, he'd follow it up with a primary assist on a Dmitri Kugryshev goal).

Coach Mark French was also impressed with Orlov's ability to seamlessly mesh into the Bears lineup. Though obviously concerned with Orlov's shaky grasp of the English language, French insinuated that in the short-term, it wouldn't get in the way of his play, as he "seems to have a decent hockey sense" and French said he was "impressed" with how Orlov played.

Capitals General Manager George McPhee agreed, telling reporters, "We got a report from someone that was at the game who said Orlov's first period the other night was the best first period he's ever seen from a 19-year-old in the American Hockey League... We're pretty high on this player."

Today, Orlov made the switch from PTO to ELC, signing his first contract with the Capitals. Given his work ethic and performance thus far, he's well on his way to a successful North American career.

 

Video highlights of Orlov's debut are here.

Video of Mark French's postgame remarks is here.

Why Does He Do That?: Andrew Gordon

I've decided to start a new feature on my blog, "Why Does He Do That?" - dedicated to hockey players' strange quirks or routines that may leave fans with questions. 

We'll start off with Andrew Gordon of the Hershey Bears. Over the past several games (well, not the past two as he was recently injured) I've noticed that after he hits an opponent, he will often pause and pat the fallen opponent on the head before skating away. Take a look at the video above from the Bears playoff series with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. At around 1:02, Gordon lays a nice hit on Sound Tiger Jesse Joensuu. Joensuu is is knocked to the ice from the force of the hit, while Gordon is able to stay on his skates. As he starts to skate away, he pats the fallen Joensuu on the helmet. Joensuu, clearly ticked off at this gesture, grapples with his stick to try to maybe hook Gordon as he skates off.

I'm friends with Andrew Gordon on Facebook, and he's very active with fan outreach on there. So I asked him what was up with the love pats. He answered my question later that day.

He said he doesn't do it every time, but sometimes he does if an opponent is going to hit him and he ends up taking the opponent down on the hit instead. "Tipping their helmet after you've already embarrassed them just rattles them a little more," he says. He does it to build up rivalries with guys on other teams, so that when he lines up for a faceoff, he knows who is going to play him physical, and thus he's able to see the hits coming in advance.

Now that we know, that little quirk makes a lot more sense. I mostly just found it amusing that our smiley Gordo has a little mean streak in him! RoaRR wishes him a speedy recovery, especially now that the Manchester Monarchs have tied up the conference series. Go Bears!

See any other players doing weird stuff you'd like explained? Make suggestions to me on Twitter for future "Why Does He Do That?" posts.

Update: Cody Eakin

 photo by me

Well, I got to see Cody Eakin in action myself this weekend, as I headed up to Hershey for the Bears' last home game of the regular season. I'd heard from Hershey friend Derek that Cody didn't have such a great game on Saturday night against the Crunch, but I was hoping he'd still see action in the lineup on Sunday. Did he ever.

At the end of the night, Eakin was awarded the #2 star of the evening (#3 being Patrick Wellar and #1 being Mathieu Perreault). For the most part, the scouting reports I read were very correct. While I didn't really get to see the extent of his speed in action, I did notice that he is very good at seeing the ice. Just watching him during a particular shift, I saw that his eyes were constantly moving (literally darting around), even when the puck was nowhere near him - looking around the ice to see where the puck was, where his teammates were, where his opponents were. He could see the next play before it even happened. This kind of ability will no doubt prove to be important and extremely beneficial to Eakin and his team.

His #2 star came from his beauty of a goal in the second period. As Cody was providing a screen in front of the net, Patrick Wellar launched a slapshot from the blue line, and Eakin angled his stick to deflect the shot past Admirals goalie Tokarski's shoulder for a goal. Aside from the goal, Eakin had a good game - creating scoring chances and establishing a decent forecheck. I can't wait to see him continue to improve, get stronger (at 179 lbs, he's still mighty scrawny for a 5'11" hockey player), and one day make it up to the Capitals roster.

Highlights of Sunday's game are here. Patrick Wellar's shot that Eakin deflects in comes at about the 0:22 mark.

Focus on Prospects: Cody Eakin

photo by Getty Images

Name: Cody Eakin

Position: C

Shoots: Left

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 179 lbs

Birthdate: 1991-05-25

Hometown: Winnipeg, Manitoba

Cody Eakin is pretty much your typical Canadian hockey-playing kid.  Playing up through the ranks in Canada, he was drafted in the first round out of bantam ranks by the WHL's Swift Current Broncos in 2006.  His first season of 2007-08, he scored 11 goals and had 6 assists, and then really shone in the playoffs of that year, when he had 7 points in just 12 games.  In his next season, he exploded into the WHL star ranks - 24 goals, 24 assists, and was named the Broncos Rookie of the Year.  The same season, he was selected to play in the CHL Top Prospects Game, and scored 2 goals for Team Orr, earning him the Player of the Game award.  He went on to play in the IIHF U18 tournament for Team Canada, where his team earned the gold medal.
 

This season, the Broncos were 3rd place in Eastern Conference at the end of the regular season, but were knocked out in the 1st round of the playoffs by the Brandon Wheat Kings.  During the season, Eakin was #7 on the list of top scorers in the WHL with an astounding 47 goals and 44 assists.  As a reward, Cody was named to the All-WHL Eastern Conference second team this season.

The main thing that coaches and scouts point out about Cody Eakin is his speed.  He's not terribly big, but what he lacks in height and weight he makes up for in his skating ability.  He's good on the forecheck and effective on the PK, and definitely isn't a selfish player - he sees the ice and his teammates extremely well.  Eakin has said he models his skating after Ottawa's Mike Fisher.  That's a fair assessment, being that Eakin is skilled as a two-way forward, much as Fisher is.  However, Eakin does say that his favorite player is Ovechkin due to his passion for the game - a passion that scouts have seen in Eakin.

His idolization of Ovechkin meant that he was a thrilled little quote machine after being drafted by the Capitals in 2009 in the 3rd round (85th overall).  He told reporters that he'd recently become a Capitals fan, largely for the exciting play of Ovechkin, Semin, and Backstrom.  He said after the draft:

"I'm looking forward to getting there and see the guys. I'm probably going to be a little shell shocked because of those amazing players. I watch the Capitals all the time...It is a good young team and I am excited to go down there."  

He had no idea who would select him getting down the 3rd round, but was excited when the Capitals called his name.  He said, "I wasn't really sure who or where I was going to go. But I am happy and I couldn't ask for a better team."

Signed to an entry-level contract in October 2009, Eakin knew that he was eligible to play with the Hershey Bears once his Swift Current season was over.  But he didn't even really expect to go that far this year.  In a January interview with Japers' Rink, he was asked about how he felt about possibly playing with the Bears this spring.  Eakin responded with:

"Oh, that would be exciting!  ...If I get a phone call and be asked to come up, whether it's to watch or to practice or what have you, it would be an exciting time for me, and I think definitely would be an eye opener for me."

Eakin was called up to the Hershey Bears on March 25, and his first game was in Syracuse against the Crunch on March 31, wearing #34.  He scored his first AHL goal - on his first shot.  He finished the night with a +2.  Eakin's new coach Mark French said that he intends on keeping Eakin in the lineup for a little while, indicating that the organization wanted to take a good look at him.  It seems to be the beginning of a very exciting career for the 18-year-old Eakin.  From the interview with Japers' Rink, he shows that he's very smart about the game and should go far:

I think if you get called up to any team, you gotta play a simple, smart game.  You gotta be reliable player.  You wouldn't expect to go up there and log big minutes.  But the minutes that you are out there -- you gotta take advantage and show that you're smart, reliable, and you can be put on the ice and you don't have to be worried about.

Here is a link to the highlights from Eakin's first AHL game.  Be sure to check out his impeccable positioning on his goal.  The goal comes right off the face-off around the 0:29 mark (thanks Kathryn).