Faceoff Factor

Therrien Will Not Affect Orpik's Decision

Justin Maffei | National Hockey League

Jun 7, 10:37 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.