In a wide-ranging interview with CSN Washington, Washington Capitals GM Brian MacLellan had some interesting things to say about defender Dmitry Orlov's status.
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Orlov has bounced between Washington's roster and the Hershey Bears (their AHL affiliate) since being drafted in 2009, and the Russian underwent surgery on his wrist this offseason. While it looked like Orlov would be ready to return by late winter, there's now a possibility that he'll miss the entire 2014-15 season - here's what MacLellan had to say.
On Dmitry Orlov’s recovery from offseason wrist surgery and the potential of him missing the remainder of the season:
The potential is there. It’s been a frustrating situation for us with his injury. I mean, I’d love to see our team with Orlov and [Mike] Green on the third pair. I mean, those are really good defensemen. It’s frustrating from that point of view. I’d like to have him come back here. I mean, it’s going to be hard for him to get his timing, to get in shape. He missed three quarters of a year. It’s not easy to make that time up but I’d like to see him try it. I think we’ll get a clearer picture of where he’s at over the next couple weeks and whether we do have a shot at that or we don’t have a shot at that. The recovery has taken way longer than we thought it would and whether there will have to be a surgery to help him recover.
On whether the injuries to Orlov and Nate Schmidt [broken shoulder blade] affects the future of Mike Green:
I don’t think it affects Mike Green at all. It affects our overall depth. I expect to have Schmidt back. I mean, in the beginning of the year we would have had Orlov and Green slotted for the third pair; we would have had Hillen seventh and we would have had Schmitty as a call-up. I think everybody took advantage of the situation. Schmidt had a good camp and he moved in. Orlov was hurt. I think it all worked its way through. It’s the benefit of having good depth at defense, that we can survive that kind of stuff.
Click here for the full interview
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