A look at Karl Alzner's season

Now that the season is over for the Capitals and I have had time to reflect, I am going to take a look at the season for the players individually.

Today, we look at Karl Alzner.

Considering how compressed the short season was and all the injuries the Defensive core took, it was nice to see someone weather the season without getting hurt.  Alzner and John Carlson were the only two Defensemen to play every game this season (they were 2 of  the 7 people from the whole team to play every game this season.)  

Alzner has also become sort of an iron man.  He has played every game in the last 3 seasons.

We all know that Alzner was never known for turning on the scoring lamp.  1 goal in the regular season and 1 in the playoffs does not have me concerned.  (Considering that his has 5 career goals in 263 games and 1 in 31 career playoff games.)

This is where some concern could come up.  He had 4 assists this season, down from from 16.  (5 points this season, down from 17).  Granted, it was a shorter season, but if you do the math, he was on pace for 8 to 9 points.

He was not paired with John Carlson that often this season and he was put into more defensive situations so the chance of getting an assist did not come up as often as before.  

Of course, the next number is concerning. . .

He was a - 6 this season after being a +12 ans +14 the two previous seasons.  Part of this can put on the Caps troubles early on, but he was a - 3 against Tampa on April 13th (and Caps OT win) and a - 2 6 times in the regular season.  He did finish in the negatives 20 times this season, which means when he had a bad night, it could be a bad night.

But on the positive side, he did finish the playoffs at a +2

The final number to look at for Alzner is

The cap hit of $1.2 million seems very reasonable when you think about Alzner.  The question is do you bring him back?  It was a down him statistically, but many people feel he is, skills wise, the best shutdown defenseman the Capitals have.  

How much do you bring back for though?  The Caps have 20 guys under contract and projected to have $5.6 million in cap room.  (There is this thing about resigning Mike Riberio).  Then again, that is what George McPhee is paid to figure out.

Oh, and here are some interesting pictures I found of Alzner this season.  (Or as some would say, Meme Spam)

And what entry would not be complete with Milbury blaming Ovechkin again.