Armchair Scout
Dmitry Orlov

Photo by Jesse Kornblum, CC BY-SA 4.0

Dmitry Orlov

San Jose Sharks Defense #9

Nine hundred and forty-nine games, thirty-four assists, and minus twenty-eight.

SeasonGPGAPTS+/-PIMPPSHGWSS%TOI
2025-268233437-2848100913.321:12
Career94979285364+106399611913285.920:03

Last Season

Three goals and 34 assists in all 82 games — 37 points, minus-28, at 21:12 a night with 48 penalty minutes. His 949th career game.

He turned 35 in July.

The Finesse Game

Still one of the better first passes on any blue line. A hundred and forty-seven unblocked attempts from a median of 49 feet, three goals — the shot has gone, and 79 goals in 949 games says it was never the point.

Thirty-four assists at 35 on a last-place club is a genuinely strong number and the second-highest total of his career.

The Physical Game

Five foot eleven and 215 pounds, which is short and thick, and he plays heavier than the height. Forty-eight penalty minutes.

He is difficult to knock over, clears his crease better than most defencemen his size, and the skating is still good enough to escape a forecheck at 35.

The Intangibles

Fifty-one point two per cent of the expected goals, 65th percentile, and 51.2 per cent of the shot attempts, 69th — the best figures on the club, across the heaviest workload on it, with the chances 62.5 to 59.6 in his favour and the goals 68-65.

The minus-28 is therefore one of the most misleading numbers in this edition, and where it comes from is not mysterious: San Jose’s goaltenders stopped .883, .896 and .890.

Seven points in his last ten, none of them goals. He is 35, won a Cup in Washington, and is the only defenceman on this roster whose underlying work is above water. He will be somebody’s deadline acquisition.