{"id":58685,"date":"2025-07-12T04:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T04:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/58685\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T04:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T04:30:09","slug":"dmitry-orlov-excited-for-fresh-start-on-sharks-after-being-disappointed-with-bottom-pairing-role-on-hurricanes-i-just-tried-to-move-far-away-with-a-new-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/58685\/","title":{"rendered":"Dmitry Orlov excited for fresh start on Sharks after being disappointed with bottom-pairing role on Hurricanes: \u2018I just tried to move far away with a new team\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov<\/strong> took the next step in his career this summer, signing a two-year, $13 million contract with the San Jose Sharks in free agency<\/a>. The 33-year-old blueliner joins up with a Western Conference team for the first time in his 13-year NHL career after spending his last two seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes.<\/p>\n

While speaking to San Jose reporters on Zoom, Orlov did not speak highly of his experience in Carolina.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I signed in Raleigh, you expect one thing, and when you not showing up or the coach is not believing you, it\u2019s always the bottom [pair],\u201d Orlov said per NHL.com\u2019s Max Miller<\/a>. \u201cEverybody has their own story and own career. So I learned on my way, and I just need to be more focused as an older guy, more experienced.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect one thing, but you need to just focus day by day, basically. You cannot look too far. It\u2019s what I done, and I think it was a mistake. Right now, it\u2019s a new chapter, a new fresh start for me with a new team, a young team, too. So it\u2019s going to be a new experience for me. I will learn a lot, too, from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour regularly limited Orlov to third-pairing minutes, a sharp shift in role for a player the Capitals had heavily relied on for a decade. During the 2023-24 season, Orlov played just 17:18 time-on-ice per game, his lowest total since the 2015-16 season (16:01) under Barry Trotz with the Caps.<\/p>\n

Orlov is set to take on a bigger role atop the bottom-feeding Sharks\u2019 blueline, likely playing significant roles at all strengths. He will be the club\u2019s only active player making over $6 million next season, with no other defenseman making over $4 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s kind of a rebuild, but have a lot of good young players,\u201d Orlov said. \u201cFor me, I just want to change a little bit, last two years, it wasn\u2019t easy for me mentally. So, I just tried to move far away with a new team and a new life for me. It\u2019s going to be interesting, and I\u2019m actually pretty excited for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orlov will be one of the team\u2019s oldest members as the rebuilding Sharks continue to develop their young players. Three of San Jose\u2019s top four scorers \u2014 Macklin Celebrini (18), Will Smith (19), and William Eklund (21) \u2014 are under 22. Orlov will also get the opportunity to serve as mentor and confidant for two highly-touted, young Russian players, defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin and goaltender Yaroslav Askarov, stepping into a role Alex Ovechkin once played for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came into the league, the game changed already,\u201d Orlov said. \u201cYou could see these young players, they have so much skill, so much speed at that age. It\u2019s going to be fun for me to see them in practice. It is the first time I\u2019m going to be an older player in the game. I\u2019m actually pretty excited to see what\u2019s going to happen and make sure we have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orlov will head into the 2025-26 season having played 867 career NHL games and recording 327 points (76g, 251a).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov took the next step in his career this summer, signing a two-year, $13…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":58686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-58685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114838386955900345","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}