Photo courtesy of JustSports Photography

Announced today, the Caps have recalled D Dmitry Orlov from the Hershey Bears. Orlov practiced with the team today and is expected to start on Monday when the Coyotes come to town.

With Mike Green still injured, Tom Poti probably never coming back, and the rest of the Caps’ defensemen playing much less than desirable, something had to be done. To help solve this problem, the Caps have recalled much talked about Russian defenseman Dmitry Orlov.

Orlov, 20, helped the Russians strike gold last year at the 2011 World Junior Championships in Buffalo. On the way to winning it all, the Russian blueliner scored a goal and assisted on 8 more. Based off this performance, Orlov was named to the 2011 tournament All-Star team.

After winning gold, Orlov went on to play with the Hershey Bears of the AHL. In 19 games played last season in Hershey, Orlov scored 2 goals and assisted on 7 more. In the Bears’ short run in the playoffs following last year’s regular season, Orlov earned an assist and had a +/- of plus-6 in only 6 games played.

Now in his second season with the Bears, Orlov has scored 4 goals and assisted on 5 more in only 15 games played. Orlov’s 9 points gives him a tie for the team lead in points among defensemen. Further, Orlov’s 4 goals scored leads the team in goals scored by a defenseman.

While realistically Orlov probably won’t have an amazing impact on the Caps and/or solve all of the team’s problems, he still will hopefully have a positive impact. Call-ups usually help provide a spark to get the team going. With the Caps blueliners playing the way they have been lately, a spark on defense could be exactly what this team needs to start winning again.

To say that we’re excited about Orlov’s recall would be a total understatement. However, we can’t say we’re excited why he was recalled…but hopefully he helps change that.

If you’re still not excited for Orlov, maybe these videos will help: