A look at a departing defenseman’s place in franchise history
3 – Number of defensemen in Capitals’ history who played more games with the team than Dmitry Orlov, who departs DC for Boston having suited up for 686 games as a Cap. His final game with the team back on Tuesday moved him past Kevin Hatcher for fourth all-time in games played among Caps’ defensemen, trailing only Rod Langway (726), John Carlson (917), and Calle Johansson (983).
He is one of four Caps’ blueliners to have played at least 500 games with the team since 2005-06, along with Carlson, Karl Alzner, and Mike Green, and is one of nine Caps’ blueliners in franchise history to appear in at least 600 games as a Cap. The first of his 686 games was all the way back in November of 2011, when he debuted against the Coyotes; one game later, he had his first point, and he picked up his first career goal in mid-January against the Hurricanes.
With Orlov’s departure, the next-longest tenured defenseman on the roster behind Carlson is Nick Jensen… a hearty 277 games as a Cap under his belt.