On Friday, the Washington Capitals returned to practice after a six-day bye week which saw many of the team’s players take vacations to tropical locales.

Caps defenseman Dmitry Orlov, who went to Aspen, Colorado, with his wife Varvara, seemed especially happy to be back in front of his home fans. After practice ended, Orlov, while conducting an interview with the media, had Ray, one of the team’s locker room assistants, give his stick away to a four-year-old Caps fan.

Longtime reader Gene Wu had brought his son Marcus to practice on Friday. The two mega Caps fans were bored during the bye week and wanted to welcome the team back at Kettler Capitals Iceplex.

Marcus has met Orlov several times before.

Orlov even posed in a photo with Marcus during a season-ticket holder event at the National History Museum while Alex Ovechkin held the four-year-old up.

On Friday, Orlov gave his twig away to Marcus. “Here you go buddy,” Ray apparently said. “Something to add to your collection.”

But Orlov’s kindness wasn’t done there.

Later when Gene got home, he thanked Orlov in Russian for the stick.

Спасибо @orlov_09 !!!!!!! :))))))))))))) A post shared by Gene Wu (@thewuwu) on Feb 17, 2017 at 9:57am PST

Both Orlov and his wife Varvara liked the post.

“I guess they do notice and recognize fans,” Gene told me in an email.

Gene also wanted me to add this thank you in my article.

“Mr. Orlov, from the bottom of our hearts, Спасибо!” Gene wrote. “Your generous and kind gesture of giving one of your hockey sticks to our 4 yr old son is much appreciated. You should see the face of Marcus when he received the stick, on the way home and even now. He will always remember how classy the Capitals organization and the players are and especially yourself. Thank you again for your generosity.”

WTG, Orly.