Therrien Will Not Affect Orpik's Decision
Justin Maffei | National Hockey League
Jun 7, 09:37 AM | Hype this story!
It has long been speculated that Brooks Orpik and Michel Therrien did not get along. This caused many fans and media members to believe that Orpik would not be returning to Pittsburgh next year. Combine that with Orpik’s play during the Penguins’ late season surge (especially his four-hit-in-fifteen-seconds shift in the finals) and Orpik looked as good as gone. His stock rose drastically because of his play late in the season and in the playoffs. However, Orpik gives hope to fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins that he may yet return.
Though Therrien and Orpik will not be seen out in the Southside having beers together, they understand the working relationship that they have. “My whole career I’ve never been best friends with the coach,” Orpik said. “I’m here to play. I’ve always had a good working relationship with my coaches. It’s nothing personal.”
Recently, it was reported that Orpik would not return if Michel Therrien was still the coach. Orpik does not understand where that report came from and said that that is not the case.
“Would it prohibit me from coming back? No, not at all. I’m not here to have someone pat me on the back every day. That’s obviously not something he does. He tries to get the best out of you. Those rumors, I don’t know where they started. I don’t see any quotes in those articles from me. That’s mostly speculation, as far as I’m concerned” Orpik explained.
That is one hurdle of two jumped. However, with Orpik’s great play late in the year his stock sky-rocketed. In fact, many contended that he had played his way out of Pittsburgh. There was a fear that the Penguins would not be able to afford to keep Orpik. Orpik has given us all reason to believe that he may still be on the first defensive pairing with Sergei Gonchar at the beginning of next season.
“You’re really rolling the dice when you go other places,” he said. “I don’t care how much money they give you. It’s not going to make you happy in certain situations. It’s something that’s been in the back of a lot of guys’ minds the last couple weeks.”
That is very good news for the Pittsburgh Penguins and their fans. However, the Penguins have much to do this off-season. They hope to sign Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin, and Jordan Staal to long-term extensions. Fleury is a Restricted Free Agent this off-season, but Malkin and Staal are under contract for next year. The Pens also hope to re-sign Marian Hossa, Marian Hossa, and Orpik. Finally, they have role players whom they must decide on. Jarkko Ruutu, Georges Laraque, Adam Hall, Jeff Taffe, Pascal Dupuis, Gary Roberts, Mark Eaton, and Ty Conklin are all Free Agents and the Penguins must decide who is in their future.
Comments
Mike Wilson
Jun 7, 11:51 AM
To answer Orpik’s question (even though I’m sure he already knows), those rumors started with the Winnipeg Sun (link listed below). And we all know how Canadian newspapers LOVE player/coach controversy.
Just as Brooks said…no quotes in the entire article.
http://winnipegsun.com/Sports/Hockey/2008/06/05/5778596-sun.html
Pens1967
Jun 7, 12:09 PM
I believe that “Winnipeg Sun” story was a reprint of the original by Steve Simmons of the “Toronto Sun”. In any event, no newspaper owned by Ruppert Murdoch should be taken too seriously as a credible source.
Tom
Jun 7, 03:23 PM
Justin, The hype about the salary cap seems a bit absurd. A simple look at the numbers I have updated shows that the cap is quite high enough to accommodate the Pens’ needs. I have now updated the cap and salary figures to give some idea of what can be done.
Player…....2008-2009…....2009-2010
Crosby…...$8,700,000..,......$8,700,000
Malkin…....3,834,000….......8,700,000
Hossa….....7,500,000….......7,500,000
Fleury…....4,500,000….......4,500,000
Malone..,,...4,000,000….......4,500,000
Staal….....2,200,000….......3,500,000
Sykora…,...2,500,000…............?
Orpik….....4,000,000….......4,000,000
Gonchar…...5,000,000…............?
Letang…......835,000….........835,000
Gill…......2,100,000…............?
Scuderi….....725,000…............?
Goligowski…..984,000….........984,000
Laraque…,..1,300,000….......1,300,000
Talbot…......700,000…............?
The Pens’ core costs $48,878,000 in 2008-2009 with some $7,422,000 left for others This list presumes a trade of Whitney $3,000,000), the right to negotiate with Conklin ($500,000), Sabourin ($550,000) and Sydor ($2,500,000)(if he waives his no trade clause) to a low level team(s) for a good prospect and a high draft choice (e.g. Atlanta for Esposito and a high draft pick to draft Schenn or Bogosian, both right shooting, physical defensemen). Surely given their 2007-2008 salaries) Kennedy ($550,000), Hall ($525,000), Ruutu ($1,150,000), DuPuis ($880,000), Eaton ($1,600,000) and Curry($500,000) a total of $5,205,000 last year cannot cost that much more. The problem arises in 2009-2010 when Malkin and Staal receive big money; however, considering that Gonchar, Gill, Sykora and Scuderi all become free agents, some financial/personnel decisions may need to be made although there is no salary cap for 2009-2010. A good idea is to be conservative about handing out no-trade clauses.
The Pens ought to negotiate a staff position for Roberts. He may be needed in the event of another playoff and would be well rested.
Possible Lines:
Talbot/Esposito, Crosby, Hossa
Malone, Malkin, Sykora
Kennedy, Staal, Dupuis
Ruutu, Hall, Laraque
Jeffrey, Cuputi, CPZ, Smith, Taffe, etc.
Possible Defensive pairings:
Gonchar, Orpik
Letang, Gill
Goligoski, Scudedri/Eaton
Possible Goalies:
Fleury, Curry
In my humble view, this team would be an improvement upon this year’s and would still leave room to plan ahead. There is still cap room to make it happen and bring home the cup.
Sorry about the columns as Word Perfect and your comment software ane somewhat incompatible.
Dabich
Jun 7, 06:04 PM
Where did Curry come from? We already have three goalies…
Matt Bodenschatz
Jun 7, 06:16 PM
Curry was an undrafted free agent out of college who signed with the Pens. He’s doing quite well in the AHL in his rookie season after a Hobey Baker year in college. He, along with (David?) Brown combine to make up a formidable duo to compete for Fleury’s backup in a few years.
As for having three goalies, that will change July 1, when Ty Conklin likely walks as a free agent and Dany Sabourin resumes his duties as the full time backup.
Tom
Jun 7, 06:40 PM
Matt, Could be; however, the effect on the cap is nil because Sabourin’s cap hit is only $512,000. I just think that Curry is the better goalie. They still have room for Conklin, but he may get a good payday.
PittCheMBA
Jun 7, 06:59 PM
The Steve Simmons story mentioned above also states that Staal and a few other players dislike Thierren. The story also said Mario is disappointed with Thierren. I am not sure how credible Steve Simmons story is.
Ashley Gallant
Jun 7, 09:40 PM
Steve Simmons was also the guy who wrote a story last summer that said that Mats Sundin needed hip surgery and may not return to the Leafs…a story that turned out to be false. I tend to put his ‘news’ in the rumour column.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jun 7, 10:21 PM
Tom, there’s zero chance Curry backs up Fleury next season. Sabourin’s under contract and they already ate a bit of his salary this year. They won’t do it again, especially considering how good Fleury has been since he returned from injury.
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