Click to enlarge. You know you want to.

I headed up to Arlington today to check out Caps practice. There wasn’t much news out of Kettler but that won’t keep us from trying way too hard to make some.

Twenty-year-old Dmitry Orlov does a lot of things well. He’s plays solid defense, can provide some huge blasts from the point, and is having an all-around fantastic rookie year. One thing, however, is not Dima’s forte: the playoff beard. Karl Alzner’s day job is safe, it appears. 

Sadly, this ‘stache-scruff combo may never see the ice as Orlov has been — and looks to continue to be — a healthy scratch. Ever since Viktor Stalberg out-hustled the young defenseman for a goal in a late March loss against the Blackhawks, Dima has been in Dale Hunter’s dog house.

Still, having puck-moving defensemen in the press box for depth is a welcome problem to have if you consider the Caps woes last May in that department.