In retirement, Brooks Orpik is balancing his roles as a college assistant coach, a Capitals staffer and a dad

Between those two jobs and raising two young daughters, Orpik is keeping himself occupied in retirement, merging his passion for the sport with his passion for teaching.

“I remember right after I stopped playing, I thought I was going to take the whole year off,” Orpik said in a recent phone call while driving to pick up his older daughter, Harlow, from kindergarten. “I’m really glad I didn’t, because it would have driven me crazy.”

Much has changed in Orpik’s life since a right knee injury made it too painful for him to keep playing, but then again, a lot of things haven’t.

Orpik, 40, is still the same hard-working, dedicated, charismatic person who won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2009 and with the Capitals in 2018.

He spent his final five NHL seasons in Washington and was an alternate captain for his entire tenure. Beloved by his teammates and a role model on and off the ice, Orpik is now mentoring not only up-and-coming Washington defensemen but also college players at his alma mater, where he won a national championship in 2001.

Orpik, who lives in the Boston area, began occasionally attending Boston College practices last season to check out his former team, but once he was asked if he wanted to become a volunteer coach, he decided to jump on board for the 2020-21 season.

“The more I do it, the more I find myself doing more work, you kind of get into it and develop a passion for it,” Orpik said of his coaching gig. “I’ve always been like, once you commit to something and you don’t go all the way in, you are cheating yourself and cheating whoever you are supposed to be helping out. You kind of get caught up in it, and you always just got to find that balance.”

Orpik said he still misses playing — he played 1,035 NHL regular season games, plus 156 more in the playoffs. But he is also content with the way his career ended. Pain in his knee left him physically unable to play, so he didn’t feel any bitterness about leaving the game.

“I got everything out of my body that I could have,” Orpik said. “I think a lot of guys that are pushed out before they are ready, they leave the game with a bad taste in their mouths and they are bitter about certain things, and I am glad that didn’t happen. … Being at practice, it kind of keeps you involved a little bit, but it is nowhere close to playing.”

Orpik hasn’t ruled out trying to advance in the NHL coaching ranks, but his current setup is ideal for him. His jobs keep him occupied and involved in the sport, yet he is still able to spend time at home with his family in Cohasset, Mass. He’s getting the best of both worlds.

“I have the luxury now that I can kind of be patient in what you have interest in,” Orpik said. “I think looking at your kids’ ages and what they are going through, every one is a little bit different, but I am kind of at the stage where I don’t want to miss out on a lot of the stuff they are doing, so kind of happy doing what I’m doing right now.”

And he is still very much involved with the Capitals, even as he awaits the start of the American Hockey League season in February, when his responsibilities working with the organization’s prospects will ramp up.

He spoke with the team’s newest defenseman, Zdeno Chara, a couple of weeks ago, when the longtime Boston Bruins captain was still quarantining in a hotel before he was cleared to participate in training camp.

Orpik said he mainly gave Chara a sense of the Capitals’ dressing room, just so he was aware of the team dynamics and wasn’t blindsided after becoming a late addition to a veteran-laden group.

Orpik and Chara’s relationship dates back to summers in Boston, when they used to work together with the same skating coach during NHL offseasons.

Many have compared Orpik to Chara because of their leadership qualities. When asked about the comparison, Orpik paused for a second, then continued to chuckle before answering.

“I don’t know how similar we are,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for him. … We are probably a lot different in a lot of respects. Maybe we share some traits, but I don’t know; that is for other people to decide.”

For one thing, Chara is still playing well into his 40s, while Orpik is at peace with the next phase of his career. He will be watching his team from afar, family at the forefront, but keeping busy with hockey always on his mind.

Source: WP