Quoting: Mittelstadt88
Beaulieu has had a rough season but I'd still say he's better than Orpik. The reason Orpik is top 10 in hits and blocks is because when he's on the ice his team never has the puck. And on top of that Buffalo gives you picks? No from the Sabres.
Are you saying that because you're a Sabres fan, and its trendy to hate on tough hockey players, or because you actually have evidence to support the opinion you'd like to be true? The league rule on hits is that they count the ones that take the pucks away from the other team, and someone did a study and found that for each extra hit a team has, compared to its opponent, its chance of winning a game goes up 1%. Since Orpik still averages 3 hits per game in the regular season and four in the playoffs, it might not be a coincidence that his teams have won at least one playoff round for five straight seasons.
How are Beaulieu's postseason statistics, again? 4 points 16 hits and 15 shot blocks in 17 games, with a max of 7gp per season, and an average of 13 minutes per game? It's a small sample size, and there are definitely reasons for that. Yeah, I don't think he's exactly better than Orpik, but I'm sure he'd appreciate your saying so.
He's a lot younger, and who knows what he might learn in Hershey, or South Carolina, or, above, practicing with Carolina.
I think the Caps like Orpik. They just like Carlson even more.