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Barry Trotz won’t promise Karl Alzner a lineup spot when he’s healthy

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Tuesday morning, the Washington Capitals returned to the ice for their first practice ahead of their second round matchup against the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

On the injury front, defenseman Karl Alzner continued to make progress towards a potential return. Alzner has been sidelined by an undisclosed upper-body injury since Game Three of Washington’s first-round series against Toronto. According to the Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan, Tuesday marked Alzner’s most grueling day of practice yet.

While Alzner admitted that he may not be ready for the Caps’ second round series opener on Thursday, he hopes to be playing as soon as he’s healthy. Head Coach Barry Trotz made no such guarantees.

“Possibly,” Trotz said when asked if Alzner would be immediately plugged back into the lineup when he’s 100 percent. “We’re not there yet, so I’m going to be vague to you.”

Meanwhile, Alzner seemed caught off guard that his roster spot was not guaranteed.

Per the Washington Post:

Asked if he expects to get back into the lineup when he’s healthy, Alzner said, “I think so. Yeah, I didn’t really think about that. I guess that’s a good point. But yeah, I’m not too sure. I hope so, I guess.”

…

“It’s very, very frustrating, especially at this point of the year,” Alzner said. “You can handle it a little more in the regular season but to watch the guys go to battle and have the feeling of being a team, it’s unfortunate to miss that. But at the same time I know that in the long run, it’s the best thing for the team and clearly was the right choice.”

Since having offseason sports hernia surgery, Alzner has not been the same player. According to Corsica, Alzner finished in the bottom half of the league in five-on-five shot attempts percentage (47.25 percent) though that number is somewhat exaggerated because he faced the top-ten toughest competition in the league. The most concerning stat, however, is Alzner’s with you, without you metric. Almost every player on the Capitals that skated with Alzner performed better without him.

That would seemingly back up why, when Nate Schmidt was substituted into the lineup for Alzner during the team’s first-round series, the team saw significantly more success from the Capitals’ second pairing.

Per Peter Hassett, Nate Schmidt’s shot attempts percentage was 57.6 in the series while Alzner was completely under water at 42.8%. The Caps scored five goals and had a plus-four goal differential when Schmidt was on the ice, while Alzner was in the red (minus-one).

The Capitals have been playing very good hockey since Schmidt returned, winning three of four games. Trotz’s decision on Alzner could have an impact on whether the Caps advance past round two.

Other notes: Tom Wilson fell awkwardly during practice. Wilson left the ice in pain but according to Trotz, he’s fine.

– Alex Ovechkin left practice early because one of his skates broke. He did not return.

– Nate Schmidt says he’s healthy after absorbing a dirty knee-on-knee hit from Leo Komarov. Schmidt also left practice early due to an equipment issue.

– Lars Eller took a maintenance day and Trotz thinks he’ll be back Wednesday.

– Matt Niskanen was asked if all the overtimes could affect the team in later rounds. His answer was tremendous.

Headline photo: Bruce Bennett

Stats via Corsica.

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