Brooks Orpik couldn’t help but remember Mike Rupp when his three-game suspension was handed down last week.
Rupp, one of Orpik’s former teammates, was suspended for four games in 2014 after a hit on T.J. Oshie led to a match penalty. He never played in the NHL again, with a career that spanned parts of 11 seasons ending as a healthy scratch once Rupp and the Minnesota Wild were eliminated from the playoffs.
“That’s always a tough way to go out,” Orpik said on Monday. “It definitely crossed my mind.”
Orpik, of course, wouldn’t see his career end that way, not with the security of three more years on his contract with the Washington Capitals.