Millennium man - 11-02-09
When you think about the faces of the Penguins franchise - Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury and Evgeni Malkin - you think of youth. All four of those players are under the age of 25.
Then you get to Brooks Orpik. You might not think of him as part of that vital internal core. He doesn't win Hart Trophies or Conn Smythe Awards. He wasn't one of the top two picks in a draft. He never made a clutch, Stanley Cup-winning save. He's simply not one of the team's elite, top level stars.
But in terms of service, he's been the face of this franchise this decade. In addition to having played for four coaches (Rick Kehoe, Ed Olczyk, Michel Therrien and Dan Bylsma), Orpik has the most career games for the Penguins during the 2000s. And by a large margain:
| Player | Games Played |
| 1. Brooks Orpik | 390 |
| 2. Josef Melichar | 310 |
| 3. Sidney Crosby | 304 |
| 4. Rob Scuderi | 300 |
| 5. Ryan Malone | 299 |
| 6. Sergei Gonchar | 269 |
| 7. Maxime Talbot | 261 |
| 8. Jordan Staal | 259 |
| 9. Evgeni Malkin | 254 |
| 10. Ryan Whitney | 253 |
| 11. Marc-Andre Fleury | 246 |
| 12. Aleksey Morozov | 240 |
| 13. Jan Hrdina | 214 |
| 14. Milan Kraft | 207 |
| 15. Alex Kovalev | 200 |
(Note: for the sake of argument, we started with the 2000-01 season and left out the 1999-2000 season.)
And when you look at the franchise's career leaders, it's not out of the question to see Orpik in the top five in terms of games played before his days a Penguin are completed:
| Player | Games Played |
| 1. Mario Lemieux | 915 |
| 2. Jaromir Jagr | 806 |
| 3. Jean Pronovost | 753 |
| 4. Rick Kehoe | 722 |
| 5. Ron Stackhouse | 621 |
| 6. Ron Schock | 619 |
| 7. Dave Burrows | 573 |
| 8. Bob Errey | 572 |
| 9. Martin Straka | 560 |
| 10. Ron Francis | 533 |
| 11. Troy Loney | 532 |
| 12. Kevin Stevens | 522 |
| 13. Syl Apps, Jr. | 495 |
| 13. Greg Malone | 495 |
| 15. Tom Barrasso | 460 |
| 16. Aleksey Morozov | 451 |
| 17. Ian Moran | 433 |
| 18. Rod Buskas | 431 |
| 18. Peter Lee | 431 |
| 20. Rob Brown | 414 |
| 21. Darius Kasparaitis | 405 |
| 22. Randy Carlyle | 397 |
| 23. Jim Johnson | 390 |
| 23. Brooks Oprik | 390 |
| 25. Mark Recchi | 389 |
A few things to consider:
-Were Oprik to play the remaining 68 games on the schedule this season, he would have 458 games, just two short of Tom Barrasso.
-Through the first five seasons of Orpik's career in which he was a full-time member of the NHL club, he averaged a solid 74 games per season. Were he to appear in 74 games per season for the final five years of his contract (including this season), he will have 746 games in a Penguins uniform. Only Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Jean Pronovost, three of the franchise's all-time elite greats, would have more.
-That said, when you consider Orpik's on the verge of turning 30 and that he plays a very rugged style, it's probably not safe to assume he'll be able to keep up his current pace. And what's to say he'll serve out the full length of that contract as a Penguin?
-At the very least, Orpik has a legitimate shot to pass up Ron Stackhouse for most games played by a defenseman.
(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)