Last year, underrated. He was good defensively, scored on Brodeur on a breakaway snipe, and took down some huge names with his fists.
This year, he's taken a few beatings (Boogard, Engelland), so he's struggling a bit. Here hoping he'll regain to form.
Also, Orr's biggest weapon is his reputation and intimidation. If he can convince the opposing team that they shouldn't take a run at Kessel or the other scorers, then his job is done. It's not always about throwing knuckles. Though, he's pretty good at that.
I would hardly call his fight with Boogard a beating. You could probably give the edge to Boogard, but it was pretty close, especially considering the size difference.
The way Orr fights, he ends up with a few big time losses. He's been dropped good by Carkner, Shelley and Engelland. In the first Engelland fight I think he was clearly winning the fight until he decided that it would be alright to not play defence and got absolutely hammered with a huge right.
When you look at the guys who have wins over Orr over his entire career, they're pretty much the who's who of top heavies. Cairns, Brashear, Laraque, Godard, MacIntyre, Boogard, Belak, Erskine, McGratton, etc. Many of those guys he's also beaten.
Over his entire career, there are only a few fights he's lost to guys you would expect him to always beat. Strudwick and VandenBussche his first season, Rupp a few seasons back and possibly Engelland (although he's proving to be a lot tougher than most expected). Every other loss he has is to a legitimate heavy, most of the time larger than him.
Is he top 3 this season? I don't think you could say he is. But he's very likely top 5 and on any given night can drop almost anyone in the league.
So while I don't think he's overrated, he may be a bit overhyped by the large Leaf fan base. He is, however, very effective at his job and is not afriad to force the issue like some other heavies.
