Brooks Orpik

Brooks Orpik was a first round pick by the Pens in the 2000 Entry Draft. There's no way he should have dropped to the Pens at 18th but everyone knows the Draft isn't an exact science. Now look, by no means are his stats going to set the world on fire because you would expect a player with the longevity of Orpiks' to maybe have some offensive numbers. Maybe he was a set up guy? Nope. Fast skater? Uh, no. None of that was his game. Orpik went out there night in and night out, played hard, blocked shots, and layed opponents out. I mean, Free Candy wasn't his nickname for nothing. (It was actually an old Penguins blog joke about his team photo on a creepy panel van but morphed into that...)

Orpik was one of my favorite players on the 2000's Penguins squads. I have always been a sucker for "stay at home" style defensemen because for one, they get no love in the hobby.  But two, they also get no love in real life either. But many times they can be a bigger impact in a game than the more offensive minded Dmen. Just looking at the base stats will show you that; over 1000s games in the NHL and a line of 18G/176A/194P.  Something must have kept him around. That was the fact that he was physical, played aggressively (sometimes too aggressively) but despite opponents best efforts to get over on him, there was far less scoring taking place while he was on the ice.

To me though, Brooks was that guy that kind of linked the absolute trash heap of an early 2000s Penguins team to the return to greatness starting in 2008. He was always there, he was always reliable, he was always the guy that would hit someone and get the crowd back in the game. He stuck around when things were really bad and was rewarded with a Stanley Cup in 2009 (he won another one later with Washington as well). 

But the game catches up to people and the Penguins just weren't willing to spend any more money to keep him around past 2014. I was kind of crushed when he signed with the Capitals though because it's like your best friend siding with your enemy in an argument. But I could get over that eventually.  I was even more crushed when he absolutely obliterated his old D partner Olli Maatta in the 2016 playoffs. That one...not so much.  But he was a great player, a great leader, and certainly a memorable character in the history of the Penguins. I'm not sure I would consider him an all-time Penguins defensemen but there is certainly an argument to be made there. 

This card is from the 2005-06 Upper Deck Be A Player set. It's not the flashiest auto card of Brooks but I believe it was the first one I ever owned. It's signed on a sticker, as you can see by the shininess.