02-09-2017, 05:36 PM
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The Team Player, <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>by: Viatcheslav Orlov</span></div>
Yekaterinburg is a relatively large town. My home. The one place I can walk around at any time of the year and still find my favorite restaurant, or the pond where I first laced up the skates. It might take a while, and at times, there seems to be a set of sunglasses that are placed on you when you walk around that have this morose filter for lenses. But it's mine, and mine "alone," as it were. It's a beautiful thing to find a place that has been shared by a rather large population, and yet, you find your own niche inside the different bricks and woods that make this industrial town a living being. It was hard to leave here.
That's why I was such a drastic pick for the Militia those seasons ago. No one outside of close family and the Russians had really heard of me, and Seva Nikitin basically got me into the Militia organization. I wasn't supposed to be this 1st round sensation, and I don't think I will ever live up to that, despite having gone in the 1st round twice in my career. I owe Seva my career, but he also owes me for the risks that come with associating with that kind of a dropout and my own mistakes that now seem to be a result of the block I chipped off.
Montreal never got to the 4-Star, never were the champions I wanted to be with them. That sucks. But that's also what you get for risking a high draft pick on a defensive defender that seemed more about his own value than about the team. I have never really been the player I wanted to be, and I guess that comes from an overinflated ego of being "the best role-player of all time." What does that even mean, Slava? Who are you kidding with that kind of declaration? You expect to waltz into the SMJHL, nay the SHL, and say you're ready to be an institution to whatever team Nikitin pulls puppet strings to get you on? No, you have no control, no say, no power here. Just keep your head down, and you'll get by.
I wish I had known that earlier. My first big break into the league news and importance wasn't a ROTY nomination, wasn't some obscure award or even a hint at getting to the Challenge Cup Finals. The first title for Orlov was insult to injury, a big problem and another nuisance from the Nikitin camp. Everyone placed the label on Seva as a cheater in the international realm, and, well, guess who the Russian mob caught up to? Me, Slava, the first rounder to, you guessed it, Seattle. So Regressiongate wasn't my fault, and we could have overcome it, but I was too busy opening my damn mouth and not paying attention to the rules of the game. And the Blizzard caught us with frostbite in a time where we needed everything and more to overcome our challenges. Hoping for an asterisk beside your Challenge Cup run was what we resorted to, and while it did unify this Pacific Northwest family, it became a sort of badge.
None of this really is getting to the point I wanted to talk about, which has been my early rise to the bottom pair in Seattle, and some of the reasons I was overlooked, and now have been kind of in flux for 3 seasons. The first taste I got of the SHL was getting my ass handed to me by players older, faster, smarter, and plain better than me on the 3rd line. I thought I could get better with some practice, but the Regressiongate scandal reigned and things felt like they were on pause. I was supposed to be this role player, but I wasn't even serviceable as a depth defender. Maybe I should have stayed down that year, who knows? Montreal could have won a Cup, I'd be better, speculations abound.
But my sophomore season, the one I just completed, I hope puts an interesting twist on the Life and Times of Slava Orlov. I'm not a center. I'm not a forward. That's never been a dream of mine, to be some flashy scorer like the Phil Schenn I watched on the North Stars seasons ago. But the team needed some help: Westbrook (bye, I guess) wasn't ready for the big time, and Rask had been distant for some time, not really dependable. Leo was a god amongst men, but even gods get old, and it was time for him to join Seva on the sidelines. So there was an opening, and I decided to take it. Not the most traditional career paths, I know, but to me, it's not about the career: it's about the team.
I feel I owe a lot of things to the Seattle Riot. A ton of that is regret for some of the bullshit Seva put the organization through. Klose is one of the folks I consider a 3rd dad in a way, and to go back and see the reaction, the fallout, and the eventual collapse of what was supposed to be this great Riot run through the mid 20s was just painful for me. I carried Seva's burden to bring the organization back, any way I could. Doing that meant being a center for a season to bring prospects up to speed. That's how I feel about the obligation described on my contract.
It wasn't easy, detracting from my training to focus on what ended up seeming like a lost cause at the end of the day. Dean was trying all he could, but Colt's .45 effort couldn't get me past 45% in the dot (ok, I probably got somewhere close to 48 but stick with me here). The dot wasn't the hard part though. Playing that 3rd line forward role felt different. For the first time in my career, I felt out of place, almost alone on that tiny red island amongst a cold, white, solid sea of ice. But that didn't mean I didn't have company. I have to thank my boys Tila Trev and Urbo for being my defensive wing sides, without them our line would have been complete garbage. And Trevor even got close to ROTY, in my eyes: he didn't have the minutes others had, but he made solid strides with arguably a toddler in myself as one of the two people he had to drag with him to glory. I can't say enough good things about them.
And just like that, our season was gone, and the relief of never having to play center again felt somewhat two-sided. I was done with a big part of my career, something I think will be noted if someone ever takes a look at my stat sheet. The team player was really a team player, and I think that shift from down on the defensive blue line to a specialized role like a shutdown center was a hard one, even if my particular stature gave me a head start on the shutdown part. I still have a bit of game left in me at the dot, but not nearly enough to be serviceable anymore. I joked with the GMs that I could still run 2nd line PK and rightfully they told me I'd be 1st line defense on the short shifts, back where I was supposed to be.
I don't know if this really fits with what the Tribune is for. Most of the time, there are stories that are meant to express some sort of position on the events of the week. I'm not about to make some big statement about how my story should swing you one way or the other on the new position rules in the SHL, because I think my experience proves that you should be where you're at. But it is the Players' Tribune, and this is my story from the past season. There are a lot of flashes in the pan, and even some make it to brilliance. I don't think I want to be that person anymore. I think I'm ready to just be a team player, if Seattle will keep me. The A on my jersey is one of the highlights of my gameday, and it will continue to be. Maybe that's my new goal: to be the best assistant captain in SHL history. Might not win any awards, but hopefully, it wins my interest and keeps me with the Needle and with the Riot.
The Team Player, <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>by: Viatcheslav Orlov</span></div>
Yekaterinburg is a relatively large town. My home. The one place I can walk around at any time of the year and still find my favorite restaurant, or the pond where I first laced up the skates. It might take a while, and at times, there seems to be a set of sunglasses that are placed on you when you walk around that have this morose filter for lenses. But it's mine, and mine "alone," as it were. It's a beautiful thing to find a place that has been shared by a rather large population, and yet, you find your own niche inside the different bricks and woods that make this industrial town a living being. It was hard to leave here.
That's why I was such a drastic pick for the Militia those seasons ago. No one outside of close family and the Russians had really heard of me, and Seva Nikitin basically got me into the Militia organization. I wasn't supposed to be this 1st round sensation, and I don't think I will ever live up to that, despite having gone in the 1st round twice in my career. I owe Seva my career, but he also owes me for the risks that come with associating with that kind of a dropout and my own mistakes that now seem to be a result of the block I chipped off.
Montreal never got to the 4-Star, never were the champions I wanted to be with them. That sucks. But that's also what you get for risking a high draft pick on a defensive defender that seemed more about his own value than about the team. I have never really been the player I wanted to be, and I guess that comes from an overinflated ego of being "the best role-player of all time." What does that even mean, Slava? Who are you kidding with that kind of declaration? You expect to waltz into the SMJHL, nay the SHL, and say you're ready to be an institution to whatever team Nikitin pulls puppet strings to get you on? No, you have no control, no say, no power here. Just keep your head down, and you'll get by.
I wish I had known that earlier. My first big break into the league news and importance wasn't a ROTY nomination, wasn't some obscure award or even a hint at getting to the Challenge Cup Finals. The first title for Orlov was insult to injury, a big problem and another nuisance from the Nikitin camp. Everyone placed the label on Seva as a cheater in the international realm, and, well, guess who the Russian mob caught up to? Me, Slava, the first rounder to, you guessed it, Seattle. So Regressiongate wasn't my fault, and we could have overcome it, but I was too busy opening my damn mouth and not paying attention to the rules of the game. And the Blizzard caught us with frostbite in a time where we needed everything and more to overcome our challenges. Hoping for an asterisk beside your Challenge Cup run was what we resorted to, and while it did unify this Pacific Northwest family, it became a sort of badge.
None of this really is getting to the point I wanted to talk about, which has been my early rise to the bottom pair in Seattle, and some of the reasons I was overlooked, and now have been kind of in flux for 3 seasons. The first taste I got of the SHL was getting my ass handed to me by players older, faster, smarter, and plain better than me on the 3rd line. I thought I could get better with some practice, but the Regressiongate scandal reigned and things felt like they were on pause. I was supposed to be this role player, but I wasn't even serviceable as a depth defender. Maybe I should have stayed down that year, who knows? Montreal could have won a Cup, I'd be better, speculations abound.
But my sophomore season, the one I just completed, I hope puts an interesting twist on the Life and Times of Slava Orlov. I'm not a center. I'm not a forward. That's never been a dream of mine, to be some flashy scorer like the Phil Schenn I watched on the North Stars seasons ago. But the team needed some help: Westbrook (bye, I guess) wasn't ready for the big time, and Rask had been distant for some time, not really dependable. Leo was a god amongst men, but even gods get old, and it was time for him to join Seva on the sidelines. So there was an opening, and I decided to take it. Not the most traditional career paths, I know, but to me, it's not about the career: it's about the team.
I feel I owe a lot of things to the Seattle Riot. A ton of that is regret for some of the bullshit Seva put the organization through. Klose is one of the folks I consider a 3rd dad in a way, and to go back and see the reaction, the fallout, and the eventual collapse of what was supposed to be this great Riot run through the mid 20s was just painful for me. I carried Seva's burden to bring the organization back, any way I could. Doing that meant being a center for a season to bring prospects up to speed. That's how I feel about the obligation described on my contract.
It wasn't easy, detracting from my training to focus on what ended up seeming like a lost cause at the end of the day. Dean was trying all he could, but Colt's .45 effort couldn't get me past 45% in the dot (ok, I probably got somewhere close to 48 but stick with me here). The dot wasn't the hard part though. Playing that 3rd line forward role felt different. For the first time in my career, I felt out of place, almost alone on that tiny red island amongst a cold, white, solid sea of ice. But that didn't mean I didn't have company. I have to thank my boys Tila Trev and Urbo for being my defensive wing sides, without them our line would have been complete garbage. And Trevor even got close to ROTY, in my eyes: he didn't have the minutes others had, but he made solid strides with arguably a toddler in myself as one of the two people he had to drag with him to glory. I can't say enough good things about them.
And just like that, our season was gone, and the relief of never having to play center again felt somewhat two-sided. I was done with a big part of my career, something I think will be noted if someone ever takes a look at my stat sheet. The team player was really a team player, and I think that shift from down on the defensive blue line to a specialized role like a shutdown center was a hard one, even if my particular stature gave me a head start on the shutdown part. I still have a bit of game left in me at the dot, but not nearly enough to be serviceable anymore. I joked with the GMs that I could still run 2nd line PK and rightfully they told me I'd be 1st line defense on the short shifts, back where I was supposed to be.
I don't know if this really fits with what the Tribune is for. Most of the time, there are stories that are meant to express some sort of position on the events of the week. I'm not about to make some big statement about how my story should swing you one way or the other on the new position rules in the SHL, because I think my experience proves that you should be where you're at. But it is the Players' Tribune, and this is my story from the past season. There are a lot of flashes in the pan, and even some make it to brilliance. I don't think I want to be that person anymore. I think I'm ready to just be a team player, if Seattle will keep me. The A on my jersey is one of the highlights of my gameday, and it will continue to be. Maybe that's my new goal: to be the best assistant captain in SHL history. Might not win any awards, but hopefully, it wins my interest and keeps me with the Needle and with the Riot.
)