When we last checked in with ex-Caps defender Karl Alzner, he had been bought out by the Montreal Canadiens.  But rather than be dispirited by the buyout, Alzner was excited. “I’m looking forward to hopefully getting another chance to play in the league and walk into the Bell Centre again,” Alzner said in a statement.

That chance might be coming sooner than later. Boston reporter Joe Haggerty says the Bruins might be interested in picking Alzner up.

Haggerty positions Alzner as a low-cost, “no risk” veteran 7D. From Boston Hockey Now:

[. . . ] The Bruins have explored a lot of deep options on the back end for once training camp rolls around. The most high-profile option was a potential deal for Oliver Ekman-Larsson that fell through, but the B’s have kicked the tires on several different possibilities.

One of those possibilities, according to a couple of hockey sources, is free agent defenseman Karl Alzner, who has played just 13 NHL games over the last two seasons while buried in the minors with an unwieldy contract.

Between 2010 and 2017, no one played more Caps hockey than Karl Alzner. Upon leaving the team he played one full season for the Canadiens before his contract got buried. All those minutes added up, especially after his 2016 surgery. Never a strong possession player, Alzner’s play suffered in his final year in Washington and his lone full season in Montreal.

The red line below shows Alzner’s teams’ possession strength when he’s on the ice (using Natural Stat Trick’s expected goals model). The gray line is how his teams performed when he was on the bench.

But with only 13 NHL games played in the last two seasons, we really don’t what his viability is today. Alzner is only 32 years old; his torn groin is now four years behind him. If the Bruins were to sign him, he just might surprise us.

I sure hope so.