Alzner still able to find bright side

It’s not a shock that Karl Alzner had a big smile on his face when he met with the media Wednesday morning in Laval.

Alzner obviously wasn’t happy the Canadiens demoted him to the AHL’s Laval Rocket after he cleared NHL waivers on Tuesday, but the veteran defenceman is one of those people who always looks at the bright side of life. He’s also one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.

“I’m always in a good mood,” Alzner told reporters at Place Bell ahead of Wednesday night’s game against the Belleville Senators. “It doesn’t matter what’s going on. You’re almost always going to get a smile out of me.”

Alzner will still be earning his US$6-million salary this season with the Rocket, which makes it easier to smile as the highestpaid player in the AHL. But this is about more than just money for the 30-year-old defenceman, who hopes to get back to the NHL with the Canadiens or another team. He is in the second year of a five-year, US$23.125-million contract.

When asked if the demotion was a blow to his ego, Alzner said: “You know what, you could look at it that way and I know some people like friends and stuff have kind of asked me that. But it’s not really the type of guy that I am. Obviously, everybody wants to come in and blaze a trail and just be the guy throughout their career and stuff like that. That’s never been my style. I just want to play the game. That’s what makes me the most happy and whether it’s here, whether it’s in Montreal, it really doesn’t mattertome.Mygoalistogetto1,000 games in the NHL and this puts a little speed bump in the way.”

Alzner, who was selected by the Washington Capitals in the first round (fifth overall) of the 2007 NHL draft, has played in 681 career regular-season games, posting 20-110-130 totals. He only played eight games with the Canadiens this season, picking up one assist, and was a healthy scratch 16 times before being placed on waivers. Before being made a healthy scratch for the season opener, Alzner had played in 622 consecutive games.

Alzner said the demotion to the AHL didn’t come as a shock.

“Honestly, I’d been kind of preparing for it for quite a while,” he said. “I didn’t know it was 100 per cent, but for the last month, month and a half, just the way that my playing time was going up there — being in for two (games) out for two, regardless of how I was playing — I kind of saw the writing on the wall. With the other guys that we had there and contracts and all that stuff, I can put two and two together.”