ALZNER FOCUSES ON MENTAL SIDE OF THE BLUE-LINE
Defenceman Karl Alzner played in his 600th consecutive NHL regular-season game Thursday night when the Canadiens beat the New York Rangers 3-1 at the Bell Centre.
If Alzner doesn’t miss any games for the remainder of his contract with the Canadiens, he will reach 950 consecutive games, which would leave him 14 behind the NHL iron man record set by former Canadiens forward Doug Jarvis.
The thought of Alzner playing 350 more games in bleu-blancrouge probably scares a lot of Canadiens fans in what has been a tough first season in Montreal for the 29-year-old after signing a five-year, US$23.125-million contract last summer as a free agent. The 6-foot-3, 217-pounder has looked slow and out of position on many nights — especially early in the season while he was adjusting to coach Claude Julien’s defensive zone system after playing mostly man-to-man during nine years in Washington after the Capitals selected him with the No. 5 overall pick at the 2007 NHL Draft.
Alzner, who has 1-9-10 totals in 60 games and is minus-5 while averaging 20:06 of ice time, was asked after practice Friday in Brossard to rate his performance this season.
“Not good,” he said. “I’m definitely not happy with it. I think if you went through the dressing room, you’d get the majority of the guys who would probably say the same. The season’s been tough for everybody. I wanted to come in and be more seamless than it was, but we’ve had a lot of things to overcome this year and we haven’t been able to do it. At this point, it’s staying positive and working. That’s really all you can do. There’s some things we can try and iron out before the summer and before next season, so that when we all come in next season we’re better. I want to be better, I want to do more for the team. I always expect more from myself.”
Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin rebuilt his defence during the off-season and said it would be better than last year’s group, which included Andrei Markov, Alexei Emelin and Nathan Beaulieu. The Canadiens ranked fourth in the NHL in defence last season, allowing an average of 2.41 goals per game. This season, they rank 23rd, allowing an average of 3.10 goals per game. Alzner said changing half of the top six on the blue-line from one season to the next hasn’t made things easy.
“You don’t usually see that very often,” he said. “We’ve talked about it amongst the guys, the turnover from last year to this year is crazy when you think about it. Trying to make all the right plays under the pressure and the timing with everybody, you’d like it to come a lot quicker and be more smooth, but it just hasn’t been the case. The nice thing is that we’re all still together. We don’t see any rifts in the room and that’s a really, really great thing. Who knows what happens the next few days (before Monday’s NHL trade deadline) or in the summer or whatever, but the group of guys is a strong group.”
Only three active NHLers have played in more consecutive games than Alzner: the Florida Panthers’ Keith Yandle (691), the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Patrick Marleau (687) and the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Phil Kessel (671). Alzner has not missed a game since March 3, 2010.
“Honestly, so much of it has been luck,” he said. “Me and Pauly (Paul Byron) were talking about it yesterday on the way to the car. We’ve had a lot of the same injuries it seems like. Mine have either come at the right time of the year, where I can find a way to play through the rest of it and wait until the summer, or I’ve been just good enough where I didn’t have to miss any games. That’s the luck. I also work really hard during the off-season and I try and do all the right things during the season.”
The NHL has become a young man’s game and the pace of play gets quicker every year, which won’t make things easier for Alzner.
“I’ve never been known as a fast skater, but I’ve always tried to think a little bit faster,” he said. “I think as my career winds down, the way that I’m going to be able to stick around is by being able to think as fast as I can. As the years go on, I’m going to try and change my body style as well. You always think, let’s get bigger, let’s get stronger. And as you get older, it’s kind of like, let’s get leaner, let’s get quicker. So if that’s what I need to do, then I’ll try that and see if I can pick up a couple of extra miles per hour.
“But for me it’s going to be trying to think and be in the right positions.”
I want to be better, I want to do more for the team. I always expect more from myself.