Confirmed Buy-Out [MTL] Karl Alzner

[abo9]

Hilarious. Is he still NHL quality?

Habs preffered to pay him $4.5M in the AHL for the past two seasons rather than use him as a 7th defenseman. I don't think he was even the first call up.

Victor Mete, Brett Kulak, Jordie Benn, Mike Reilly, Xavier Ouellet and David Schlemko and Otto Leskinen all saw more games than him. It's a great brochette of defensemen but I think it answers your question

 

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

I’m sure it’s been mentioned here already, but he was an amazing defensive player in Washington. Once he hurt his groin he was never the same player. Lateral movement, being able to pivot, first step, skating backwards, etc. all deal with the groin. One of the worst injuries a hockey player can deal with.

 

[Name Nameless]

Clearly a move of good faith towards the player and his agent. I get it. Having good working relationships is important.

Yeah, in this case a buy-out is actually a classy move, something they can show other players: look, sign with us. We treat our players well.

 

[belair]

Can anyone elaborate on Alzner not fitting into Julien's defensive system? Apparently Alzner thrives in a more aggressive attack system and Julien's is more passive? Facts or bullshit?

 

[pth2]

Can anyone elaborate on Alzner not fitting into Julien's defensive system? Apparently Alzner thrives in a more aggressive attack system and Julien's is more passive? Facts or bullshit?

I think system is a part of it, but his play had also gone downhill, and he also didn't have the hockey IQ to adapt to a different system. He was apparently a pro though, a good influence on kids in the AHL.

Some guys work in one city/system and just don't work elsewhere. Trevor Linden "worked" in Vancouver, but elsewhere he was meh.

 

[Jeune Poulet]

Can anyone elaborate on Alzner not fitting into Julien's defensive system? Apparently Alzner thrives in a more aggressive attack system and Julien's is more passive? Facts or bullshit?

I'll say bullshit.

Alzner is a vanilla stay-at-home AHL-quality player.

He doesn't even standout a little in the AHL. A player like Xavier Ouellet is better than him in all aspects of the game... and Ouellet isn't even legit NHL quality! Alzner is slow, not terribly competitive, no offensive awareness at all. And for a guy who is a pure stay-at-home, he is neither powerful nor intimidating. So all he does all game long is try not let players skate around him and cash his fat checks.

In theory, the Habs zone defense suits slower defensemen well. Plus, Alzner has had very little competition on the left side in Montreal. All the ingredients were there for him. But when you can barely keep up in the AHL at 30, your time is up.

 

[Voight]

Literally everyone saw this coming the second he signed.

Bergevin tends to occasionally make some moves that benefit the player more than the actual team. The rumour was that the Kovalchuk to Washington trade was more that Kovalchuk wanted to go to Washington and less that it was the best offer on the table.

Thats great from a human perspective, but not the best policy from a trying to make your team better perspective.

 

[Jigger77]

Can anyone elaborate on Alzner not fitting into Julien's defensive system? Apparently Alzner thrives in a more aggressive attack system and Julien's is more passive? Facts or bullshit?

Based on what I heard on the Montreal TSN radio yesterday in a conversation between Aaron Ward and Mitch Melnyck, when Alzner moved from Was to Mtl he was asked to switch to a zone D vs man to man. Apparently he was just never able to adapt to that. Alzner made the comment that the transition to zone D was difficult but that he was going to get used to it (or something to that effect) shortly after the trade as well.

 

[Dream Big]

Yeah the problem with zone defence is as soon as your mark crosses to the other side your d partner has to pick up that forward and you have to find someone else to defend against. If they all stay on one side then there is confusion. Who picks up who? Do you stay in your zone or cross over?

Man on man you have your responsibility no matter if he crosses over or not. Your partner also has his man to mark. You both know who you are covering.

Smart forwards who know you are playing zone make it twice as hard for the d. Plus the goalie can't depend on his d picking up the zone cross over.

Zone defence is my least favourite style. It's old fashioned. I just thought it was Montreal's way to get a higher draft pick without it looking like they were tanking. Blame the D.

 

[Gael]

He can still play on a bottom pair probably , just a crap contract .

He can't

 

[boompuffboom]

in a league full with T-rex's and velociraptors, you dont want a placid, lethargic herbivore on your blue line.