Brooks Orpik spent 11 seasons with the NHL franchise that resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, so he knows a thing or two about the machinations of the Steel City and their voracious hockey fans.
He also knows what it's like to play for those fans when things aren't going quite by plan, and after more than a decade of giving his all for the Penguins faithful, he has come to the conclusion that outside pressure contributed to many of the team's failings, especially last season.
"There was something not right last year," said Orpik, now a member of the Washington Capitals, according to Josh Yohe of TribLive.com. "I guess stale is a good word. Something needed to change. I thought guys were affected by the outside pressure. There is a standard in Pittsburgh that is tough. We'd win games, and people would still be criticizing us. People were saying we were winning games the wrong way. I don't even know what that means, if there is such a thing."
It can be a blessing for a player to be part of a team that has Stanley Cup expectations and aspirations year in and year out, but to hear Orpik tell it, that can also become a tiresome burden that leaves fans and players alike unhappy overall.
"There was so much pressure from the outside," Orpik said. "And that was something that wore on guys."
In this past season's playoffs, the Penguins raced out to a 3-1 second-round series lead over the New York Rangers before unraveling and choking it away. After the lost series, after five consecutive years of playoff disappointments, Orpik said he knew his time with the Penguins was drawing to a close.
"I saw the change coming," he said. "I kind of needed change, to be honest, for a lot of different reasons. I wasn't surprised by it. I was looking forward to it, to be honest."
Orpik signed a five-year, $27.5 million contract with the Capitals in the offseason.
He says that he's happy in his new hockey home, but made sure to circle this game against Pittsburgh on his calendar.
