Earlier this week, former Capital Karl Alzner was put on waivers by the Montreal Canadiens.
After no NHL team claimed the 30-year-old defenseman, Alzner was assigned to AHL Laval Rocket.
And wouldn’t you know it, he scored in his first game!
North of the border on Monday morning, the Montreal Canadiens took to the ice for practice before their game Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes. But former Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner was conspicuously absent.
It turns the 30-year-old has been placed on waivers.
Defenseman Karl Alzner hasn’t been a Capital since the 2016-17 season, but his connection to his team still runs deep. The Montreal Canadiens failed to make the playoffs last season, but Alzner didn’t let his own postseason disappointment stop him from following his friends’ journey.
“It was interesting for me because it was two completely different sets of emotions,” Alzner said in an interview with Tim Wharnsby for the NHLPA. “At first you want to feel you were a big part of the team, and you don’t want to think that they were about to have more success without you.”
Like many players, Alzner doesn’t usually watch playoffs if he’s not in them. But after a short vacation to Europe after his early start to the summer, he tuned back in.
“That team has 15 of my closest friends and I was happy for them,” Alzner said. “It was a roller coaster of emotions. But the way I saw it was when do you get a chance to see 15 of your closest friends realize their dream.”
On Wednesday, the Montreal Canadiens scratched Karl Alzner from their starting line up for their game against the Maple Leafs in Toronto. The former Capital has four more years on his $4.625 million AAV contract that he signed in the summer of 2017.
The thirty-year-old defenseman will miss his first game since the 2009-2010 season, ending a 622-game iron man streak.
There was once a time Caps fans believed Karl Alzner was a nice, humble Canadian boy from Burnaby, British Columbia. Since signing with the Montreal Canadiens, however, we’ve seen a different side of Alzner: a savage, take-no-prisoners enforcer who has an addiction to face-punching.
Alzner, who is not taking any of your ish this season, got in his second fight in less than a month Wednesday night against the Dallas Stars. And he totally started it.
Six years after Karl Alzner‘s first and only NHL fight with Steve Downie, he dropped the gloves again in Montreal’s Bell Centre.
With a little over five minutes remaining in the first period, Steven Stamkos, he of two-career fights, pounced Alzner.
Then the two danced.
NBC Washington is reporting THE BAND IS GETTING BACK TOGETHER.
TJ Oshie will vacation with Karl Alzner during the All-Star Break.
It’s Karl Alzner‘s second time back at Verizon Center Capital One Arena, and I guess he’s not used to being the visitor yet. After he slashed delicate golden child Andre Burakovsky in the first period, Alzner appeared confused as to which team’s penalty box his grizzled, British Columbian heinie was supposed to sit in.
Karl Alzner has never been known for his offensive abilities, but during the first period of the Montreal Canadien’s game against the Vancouver Canucks, the former Capital threw a puck to the net and a very good thing happened.
Alzner scored his first goal as a Montreal Canadien in his 42nd game with the team.
Outdoor games are now a special part of every hockey season, evoking memories of bygone days when all hockey was played outdoors.
During Karl Alzner’s 591-game career as a Washington Capital, he participated in two such outdoor games. Alzner spoke about those experiences, the first in Pittsburgh and the second at Nationals Park, as he prepares to “take it back to the roots” during Montreal’s NHL 100 Classic game on Saturday.
