NOM NOM NOM. (Photo by Chris Gordon of Caps Snaps)

We’ve been fascinated by Dmitri Orlov since Fedor told us that Metallurg fans call him the Russian Bobby Orr.  As ludicrous as that title is, we can’t help but be impressed by the offensive-minded d-man called Dima.  His partner at development camp, Joe Finley, compared Dmitri to John Carlson and Mike Green, but he did point out the difficulties in communication.  Unlike Stan Galiev, Dmitri is not comfortable with English, only the universal language of cupcakes.  That’s why our pal Oksana Zolotar chatted Orlov up in the tongue of the motherland.

Follow us past the jump where we’ll learn about Dmitri’s trouble buying out his contract and overcoming his 5’10″ frame.  Please note that Oksana refrains from asking Dima about Ian’s weird fixation on him.  Also, don’t forget to check out our interviews with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Stanislav Galiev if you missed them.

Oksana Zolotar: What are your impressions of Washington? America, in general? I know it’s your second time, has anything changed?
Dmitri Orlov: No, nothing has changed really. I like everything. I would want to play here, but I have to figure out several problems with my team so I could come here.  I need to buy out my contract. It’s a big amount that I can’t really give them right now. I’m still thinking because it’s not an easy decision for me, so we’ll see.

Dmitri Orlov seems eager to play in North America this year. (Photo by Neil Greenberg)

OZ: Do you still have any trouble with the communication? Language barrier?
DO: Yeah, of course, I do. I barely know the English language; I don’t understand too much. Stas (Stanislav Galiev) translates because he’s already played here for two years, and Zhenya (Evgeny Kuznetsov) has been in New York and has been studying it for a long time. I tried to study it a lot this year, but it wasn’t that easy.

OZ: Is it easier than last year?
DO: Well yeah, I understand much more, but I still can’t say much.

OZ: When the season’s over, do you relax a little bit in terms of training? Or keep at the same rate?
DO: As soon as the season ended, I went on vacation.

OZ: What do you think you have to work on to reach the next level? What weaknesses do you have?
DO: Well, I think I have to get stronger physically. I’m not that tall.  If I want to play in America, they have grown men that play here, much taller than me, bigger than me, so I need to get ready physically.

Dima tries to shoot the puck through traffic during Saturday's Scrimmage.

OZ: Next year, what are your goals.  What are your plans?
DO: For now, I don’t know anything about next season; we’re discussing everything with my team, and Washington, and making decisions. But I want to play here.

OZ: From what I know, you still have a contract with Mettallurg, can you give us a little more details?
DO: The contract is for two more years, but I said that I want to try myself here. They’re telling me to buy out the contract. They’re offering different options for me to stay home, but I think I still want to try here.

OZ: If you were to compare yourself to a famous player, who would it be? Why?
DO: Well I don’t know, I can’t compare myself, I think the professionals should be comparing me to someone, I just play the best that I can.

OZ: Dima, what about the number 9? Does it mean anything? Or is it just a number?
DO: No.  I just like the number, and I’ve played with it for several years… I just like the number.

OZ: What about the Russian guys that are training with you? Did you already know them? Or just meet them here?
DO: I’ve known Zhenya for a long time now, but me and Stas just met. He’s a great guy and I like spending time with them. Last year, Dima Kugryshev, who is having visa problems this year, was here. We had a good relationship, he helped me a lot with English translations.

OZ: What about the Russians here? Do you know Ovechkin? Semin?
DO: No, I haven’t met them yet.

Also, make sure to check out Caps Snaps’ profile of Dmitri Orlov which touches on Dima’s childhood and improved conditioning.

The Washington Capitals selected Stanislav Galiev (friends call him “Stan”) as the 86th overall pick in the draft.  The baby-faced left winger from Moscow stood out during development camp as a competent skater, playmaker, and polyglot whiz.  He’s not a particularly big player (178 lbs), but Galiev’s personality is plenty big. Our girl Friday, Oksana Zolotar, chatted up Stan in his native tongue following Wednesday’s scrimmage.

Follow us past the jump to learn about his adoration of Alexander Semin, bulking up, and Russian camaraderie at dev camp.  If you missed Monday’s interview with Evgeny Kuznetsov, we politely remind you that this will all be on the final exam.

Oksana Zolotar: So you’ve been in America a while now…
Stanislav Galiev: Yeah, I’ve played here for two years already.

OZ: So you know English pretty well by now.
SG: By now, yeah.
OZ: Yeah I’ve noticed, everyone says that you translate everything.
SG: Yeah I try to help out a little, make a little money. [Laughs]

OZ: When the season’s over, do you relax a little bit in terms of training? Or keep at the same rate?
SG: Well when this season was over, I stayed in Toronto for another two weeks and worked before the test with my agent. After the test I rested a bit, went to Turkey.

A serious look from a big personality (Photo by Neil Greenberg)

OZ: What do you think you have to work on to reach the next level? What weaknesses do you have?
SG: Well, I think I have to gain a bit more weight, physical mass, and play defense a little better.

OZ: For next year, what plans do you have? What goals?
SG: I want to make the Russian Junior hockey team, other than that just work as hard as I have been.

OZ: If you were to compare yourself to a famous player, who would it be? Why?
SG: I mean, I don’t think I have one. I’d love to be similar to Semin; I love his style.

OZ: Play with Semin in Washington?
SG: Yeah!

During Thursday's scrimmage, Galiev had 1G, 1A and the game's deciding shootout tally. On Saturday, his shootout goal shown above also pushed white to victory.

OZ: What about the Russian guys? Did you know them for a long time before camp?
SG: Dima [Dmitri Orlov] and Zhenya?
OZ: Yeah
SG: Dima I didn’t know before, but Zhenya yeah, we’re good friends, played together.

OZ: And what about the well-known players? Do you know Ovechkin?
SG: Ovechkin no, not yet.
OZ: Not yet?
SG: Yeah, just give me a little bit of time. [Laughs]

* * *

Check back on Wednesday for our third and final interview with Dmitri Orlov.

Personality Defined: While we interviewed Evgeny, we noticed he wore white crocs with some stickers on them. Included were NY Yankees, Arizona Cardinals & Spider-Man logos and his number at development camp, 92.

If one player could be said to have stolen the limelight during Caps development camp, it must be Evgeny Kuznetsov.  The first-round draft pick scored a flurry of goals in scrimmages; invoked the ire of that other RMNB crush object, Braden Holtby; met with some Russian-language students from UMD, and even gorged on some cupcakes.  We wanted to pick Evgeny’s brain, but we were stifled by the language barrier.

Luckily, friend-of-the-blog and sage of all things Caps, Oksana Zolotar, helped us out.  In addition to having a truly awesome name, Oksana speaks fluent Russian.  We put the two kids together for a chat following Wednesday’s scrimmage (in which Evgeny went 2G-1A-3P).   Follow us past the jump to hear Evgeny discuss English, his ambitions, and his always cheerful attitude.

Oksana Zolotar: What are your impressions of Washington? America in general?
Evgeny Kuznetsov: Well, this isn’t my first time in America.  I’ve been to America about ten times now, but it’s my first time in Washington. I haven’t been downtown yet, but other than that, I like everything, especially the atmosphere of the team.

[General Manager George McPhee says something congratulatory, but inaudible, to Evgeny. Evgeny nods politely.]

OZ: Are you having trouble with communication?  The English language? How are you handling it?
EK: Yeah, I’m definitely having a lot of trouble. I don’t know the language. I know a little, so I can interact a little bit, translate, so it’s okay for now. I’m just going to study English a bit more before I make the final decision to come here, but that’s not totally up to me.

OZ: When the season’s over, do you relax a little bit in terms of training? Or keep at the same rate?
EK: This year I didn’t even have a chance to go anywhere on vacation because at the end of the season was the World Championship. I rested a little bit, a week, then I had to start training for tests before the draft. After that, I came here and trained in New York, then the draft, and then came here.

Evgeny dominated Wednesday's scrimmage. He had two goals and a primary assist. (Photo by Neil Greenberg)

OZ: What do you think you have to work on to reach the next level? What weaknesses do you have?
EK: I have to work on everything. Mostly I have to gain weight so I can be bigger, to play in the NHL you have to be big. But other than that, I need to work on skating and shooting, and I think it will be okay.

OZ: What about next year? What goals do you have? What plans?
EK: I would be more than happy to come here if they called, of course. But I do have a contract, and I would have to buy it out then, and I don’t have the type of money to buy it out.

OZ: If you were to compare yourself to a famous player, who would it be? Why?
EK: I can’t compare myself to any famous player because he’s already been playing, already accomplished something. I can only say who I admire, who I watch. I watch Malkin, Datsyuk, how they play, and try to do the same.

OZ: What about the Russian guys that are training with you? Did you already know them? Or just meet them here?
EK: [Laughs] Yeah, of course! I’ve known them for a long time! We played together, and always talked when our teams played against each other. But yeah, we’re friends, always keep in touch.

OZ: What about the Russians here? Do you know Ovechkin?
EK: No, I haven’t met anyone. Semin played in Chelyabinsk I remember.  He played when I was little.

We'd be terrible journal-- er... bloggers if we didn't ask Evgeny what was up with this photo.

OZ: Alright Evgeny, we all saw your wonderful photo [shows photo from draft night], tell me …are you always this happy?
EK: [Laughs] Yeah I’m always happy, I think you can even ask the guys on the team, and they’ll tell you that I’m always smiling.
OZ: Oh, I’ve seen it.  Everyone’s seen it.

OZ: Alright, last question.  But honestly, are you disappointed that you didn’t go to the Rangers? [Kuznetsov had said before that he'd prefer to be drafted by NYR.]
EK: Well, I just didn’t think that Washington would choose me because… I mean I’m not going to lie, of course before I wanted to. But when Washington chose me, I realized that it was even better for me because here there are Russians, fantastic coaching. I don’t want to say anything about the Rangers, I don’t have anything against them, but I like it here better, I interact with people, it’s somewhat more pleasant here.

* * *

Extra: Bruce Boudreau’s thoughts on Kuznetsov

“Fantastic” coach Bruce Boudreau sang Kuznetsov’s praises after the scrimmage on Wednesday.  In a chat with WP’s Tarik El-Bashir, Bruce also mentioned the pizazz Evgeny brings to his performance.

Finally, we’d like to thank Oksana Zolotar for her invaluable contribution.  She was a total pro in these interviews, and –oh yeah– Monday is her birthday!  Congratulations, Oksana!  We’ll have her interviews with Dmitri Orlov and Stanislav Galiev later this week.