Brooks Orpik might not decide on retirement until August

Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik has not made a decision yet about whether to play a 17th NHL season or retire.

Orpik, 38, will become a free agent at the start of the new league year. He said the main factor will be whether he feels his body will hold up for another year, so he doesn’t want to rush the decision.

“When I was a free agent last time I wanted to get something done close to July 1. This time, if I do wind up playing, I might not even know if I want to play until middle of August,” Orpik said. “So it might drag out a little bit more. That might be a better situation for me just so other teams let things kind of settle and then you’ll see if there’s openings and if anything’s desirable.”

For now, Orpik is no rush. The biggest event on the horizon for him is a trip with his family to Disney World, he said.

“I know from past experience, like the emotion you feel after a loss like that, sometimes you feel a lot differently a month later,” he said. “You don’t rush to any judgments in terms of your future or try to dissect what went wrong, because a lot of times you regret what you initially think. I think patience is always a good thing.”

If Orpik doesn’t return, the Capitals have John Carlson, Michal Kempny, Dmitry Orlov, Matt Niskanen and Nick Jensen under contract for multiple years. Jonas Siegenthaler also showed promise this season that he can become a full-time NHLer rather than a minor league call-up.

But if the Capitals are prepared to assemble a blue line without Orpik, they’re less prepared to lose him from a locker-room standpoint. His teammates reflected on what Orpik has meant to the team.

“It’s hard to put into words what a guy like that means to a team,” Tom Wilson said. “He’s best friends with the 19-year-old, he’s best friends with the 35-year-old … That guy’s never taken a shift off in his whole career, I don’t think.”

“He’s been a strong character in the room, a strong presence,” Lars Eller said. “Regardless of what happens with him moving forward, it was great to have him here for the three years I was here with him.”

Orpik said it was important to him, especially as he grew older, to be a good teammate.

“When I was a younger player I had some really good older teammates and I had some other older teammates that I didn’t really love,” he said. “I think getting a taste of that, as you get older you reflect on that, and you’re like, ’I hope guys view me in the same light that I viewed some of these guys, not the way I was treated by some of these other guys.’”