Photo: Patrick McDermott
One half of the fabled Carlzner defensive pairing, Karl Alzner was sent to shut down the Caps’ toughest opponents all year. Plus: puppies and the best bench celebrations you’ve seen since that other guy.
By the Numbers
| 82 | Games played |
| 20.1 | Average time on ice per game |
| 2 | Goals |
| 16 | Assists |
| 47.0% | Shot attempt percentage during 5v5 |
| 44.6% | Goal percentage during 5v5 |
| 7.1% | On-ice shooting percentage during 5v5 |
| 92.3% | On-ice saving percentage during 5v5 |
Peter’s Take
Karl Alzner has scored seven goals in his career, but he waited until December of 2013 to score one in Verizon Center. I held out hope that Alzner’s increased shot volume this year would shatter his goal-scoring record of two, set in 2011. Instead, Karl merely tied it. I’d make a crack about learning to live with disappointment, but this is the Caps; disappointment has called all-time shotgun. Despite the scoring lull, Karl’s offense is on the rise, and that makes me wonder about all sorts of stuff.
Aside from being the “Quiet Beatle” of the Caps, which he totally is, might we be getting Karl Alzner be all wrong? He’s touted as a shutdown defenseman, but he got outscored 51 to 41 during 5v5 this season and saw just 47 percent of shot attempts belong to his team. He’s considered a stay-at-home guy who doesn’t shoot much, but he actually generated individual shot attempts at a higher rate than Orlov and Oleksy. I wonder if we’ve got the wrong idea about what kind of player he is. Either way, it’s hard to say Alzner has had a successful season since the Boudreau era. How much of that has to do with coaching, and how much should we lay at Karl’s feet? Seeing as he’ll be playing under his fourth coach and fifth system next season (exasperated sigh), maybe we’ll find out then.
Karl on RMNB
- Why don’t you just peruse the #AlzyCelly tag? We’re quite proud of it.
- Karl rocked Google Glass, which makes me wonder if he’s nerdy enough to join my WoW guild in the offseason. We roll Horde, natch.
- Karl’s dog are precious. Some people say presh, but those people are totes annoying.
- Alzner got the primary assist on Joel Ward’s bathroom escape.
In Pictures
This one hits my soft spot, so it gets first position.
Karl’s first hometown goal. Kind of a fluke, no?
From early March, evidence of how tough Karl’s competition was compared to the rest of the D. He and Johnny took a ton of flak covering for the team’s week D depth.
Your Turn
What did you make of Karl Alzner’s season? Can he recover the success of his first couple seasons? How cute are those dogs?
Read more: Peerless Prognosticator, Japers Rink
