Lawless: Dorofeyev Right at Home with Golden Knights

You see it in every NHL rink following every NHL game. Players from different teams who minutes ago were slashing and whacking at one another meet up in the hallway between home and away dressing rooms and greet one another like long-lost brothers.

Whether they previously played on the same team in the NHL, AHL, junior or college they have a bond. Maybe they are both from Sweden. Or Saskatchewan or, in this case, Russia.

The Washington Capitals had just knocked off the Vegas Golden Knights and there were a handful of Russian players from both teams chatting in a small but busy thoroughfare. And they all kept looking up, waiting for one more to arrive. For Pavel Dorofeyev it was the opportunity of a lifetime. He was about to meet Alex Ovechkin.

“Yeah, it was fun. He’s one of the oldest Russian guys in the league, so yeah. It was cool to meet him and talk to him,” said Dorofeyev. “Every Russian hockey player would want to meet him. We have watched him our whole lives.”

Dorofeyev was drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights in the third round (79^th overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft and has steadily made the climb to where he finds himself now skating on the team’s second line with center Tomas Hertl.

“Since we lost some guys this summer, it’s a big chance,” said the 23-year-old. “Being able to reach out to guys like me who are also trying for those opportunities is helpful. And to talk to other Russian players like Barbie (teammate Ivan Barbashev). I am trying to do my best out there.”

After Vegas drafted Dorofeyev, he spent a few more seasons in Russia before coming to North America and the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights. The last three seasons saw him get a few games in the NHL. After scoring 13 goals and 24 points last year, Dorofeyev made the Golden Knights this training camp and earned a full-time role in the NHL.

“He's figured it out pretty fast, to be honest. Especially when you see players come into the league, for some people it takes a while, but it took him maybe like five games or so to get used to it, and he’s been outstanding ever since,” said Barbashev. “He’s got some good goals. We saw it last year. He’s growing as a player. He gets better every day. His mind is different than everybody else. He’s an elite shooter. We saw it in our game against Tampa on the power play. Just like I said, his mind is a little bit different than everybody else, and he reads the game in a different way.”

Dorofeyev and Barbashev can be seen together quite often around the rink or team hotel when Vegas is on the road. And now with goalie Ilya Samsonov on the team, the three of them are a constant posse.

“Pav is like a younger brother. Yeah, kind of. Especially when you have Russians on a team, you get really close to each other. It’s fun to be around every day,” said Barbashev.

Dorofeyev started the season playing on the second power play unit but when Victor Olofsson suffered an injury last week, the young Russian was promoted to top the unit and immediately responded with a power play goal.

“I thought he was the best fit for what we want there. We want a guy that shoots off the pass. We saw that against Tampa. He did it. A guy that has a shooting mentality when he gets over there, he did that,” said Cassidy. “I think he’s got the hockey IQ to play with those guys and know when to shoot. He’s not going to force plays through there. I think that’s also what Olofsson did. And really, I didn’t know. You see the big shot with him. What he’s done so well is have composure over there and reset plays without forcing it and be able to make teams take a pass under a little bit of pressure and find a soft spot. Pav can do that too. So that’s the thinking.”

Hertl is an elite passing center and Cassidy is still trying to find chemistry with his lines. Dorofeyev has spent most of this season with Hertl.

“We didn’t know where (Dorofeyev) would land, whether it was with William Karlsson or somewhere else. I saw something that I liked in Hertl and Pav. So right now, that is the plan to try to keep them together,” said Cassidy. “Pav is one of the guys that seems to be able to go into the right side as a young winger and survive. There’s a lot of guys that get over there and they have to handle pucks on their backhand a lot, through the neutral zone or off the walls, and they have a tougher time, or they get caught from behind. He’s obviously handled it better than some of the other younger wingers, so that’s also a luxury when you can flip sides with them.”

Dorofeyev is a homegrown VGK player. Drafted and developed by the organization and he wears this distinction with pride.

“Yeah, it‘s a cool story for me. Being in the organization for four years, it’s always fun to keep progressing in the right way. Do the right steps to be better and help the team in some games,” Dorofeyev said. “I love every single shift I get to play with Hertl. He’s a big and strong guy. He knows the game. He plays very well. Especially defensively. So, it helps a lot. Again, I learn a lot from him. It’s great. I’ve been working hard to get into the position I’m in right now. So that means all this work that has been done is good, I think. I try to keep going in the right direction.”