“The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the
result of steady accretion.”
-- Alexander Graham Bell
It does not seem all that long ago that Karl Alzner was making his
debut in the National Hockey League with the Washington Capitals, getting 30
games of experience in the 2008-2009 season. But with 215 games
of regular season games under his belt coming into the 2013 season, the
expectations for Alzner were not the modest ones of a prospect. He would not – and likely will never – put up
big high-end numbers as a defenseman.
Four goals and 39 points in those 215 games are not the numbers of an
offensive defenseman.
No, the expectation for Alzner was for that of a shutdown
defenseman. A player who could be matched
against an opponent’s top line and who would reliably – or at least more often
than not – be the key to keeping that line in check. After all, what we said at this time last
year suggested Alzner would be that shutdown defenseman…
“Of Capitals defensemen playing in at least 30 games this season he faced the stiffest competition at 5-on-5 (behindthenet.ca). He had the highest Corsi value relative to quality of competition. Despite facing that high quality of competition, he had the second best on-ice save percentage against, and he had the second-highest “PDO” at 5-on-5 (shooting percentage plus save percentage). This simple measure is a transparent expression of efficiency. When factoring in the quality of competition faced by Alzner, he stood at the top of the Capitals blueline corps in terms of efficiency this season.”
This season, things were a bit different, and not necessarily in a good
way. At 5-on-5 Alzner’s Corsi relative
to competition dropped from 1.403 to 0.479.
His PDO dropped from 1017 to 992.
His goals-against/on ice per 60 minutes rose from 2.20 to 2.55. And this with more frequency of offensive
zone starts. As a “defensive”
defenseman, Alzner is not going to get the majority of his zone starts in the
offensive end, but he did record 46.7 percent of his zone starts in that end
compared to 41.6 percent in 2011-2012 (numbers from behindthenet.ca).
With an abbreviated season, one wonders whether this fact had effects
on any player, Alzner included. The “tens”
paint an odd picture in that regard.
Like the rest of the club, Alzner got off to a poor start. He did not have a point and was a minus-3
after those first ten games, during which the Caps were 2-7-1. Alzner was on ice for 17 of the 36 goals
scored against the Caps in those ten games, almost a third of the goals against
for which he was on ice for the season (55).
There is a push-pull question here.
Hockey can be at times a “circumstantial” sport. A player – Alzner in this case – might be
present for an event, such as a goal scored against, but would not necessarily be
the proximate cause of that even taking place.
Was Alzner a factor in poor performance or a victim of circumstance? Still, Alzner has a role to play on this team, and having been on ice
for goals in nine of the first ten games of the season, it did not appear as if
that role was being filled as well as it could be, even if he was not the only
player of whom that could be said.
Then, as if a light went on, Alzner was 1-2-3, plus-4 over his next 20
games, during which the Caps went 11-9-0, righting a foundering ship. But then, Alzner’s game regressed, almost as
if fatigue was a factor. In his last 17
games he was 1-1-1, minus-9, while the team was going 13-2-2. Alzner was on ice for half of the goals
scored against the Caps in those 17 games (21 of 42).
From a distance, Alzner’s season looked as if it broke into three
pieces – a warm-up stretch in which he struggled, as if the late season start
left him at the starting gate; a middle stretch in which he was on top of his
game; then a late group of games in which he struggled again.
Odd Alzner Fact… Think there might have been a “Southeast Division”
effect in his results? Against the weak
sisters of the Southeast, Alzner was 1-2-3, plus-7, in 18 games. Against everyone else he was 0-2-2, minus-13,
in 30 games.
Game to Remember… April 7th vs. Tampa Bay. On a night when the story line was Alex
Ovechkin climbing into a tie for the league goal-scoring lead (he had two
goals), Alzner was his typical steady self.
In 25:34 of ice time he was not on ice for either of the goals the
Lightning scored in the 4-2 Caps win.
And over an 11:40 stretch of the third period with the Caps clinging to
a one-goal lead, Alzner logged 5:58 in ice time over five shifts, his last
shift – 1:37 in length – ending when Ovechkin scored an empty net goal to seal
the win.
Game to Forget… April 13th vs. Tampa Bay. Less than a week after his memorable game,
Alzner was part of a team breakdown in the third period that saw the Caps lose
a 5-1 lead when the Lightning scored four goals in the last 21:13 of regulation. Alzner was on ice for two of the three goals
the Lightning scored in the third period of that contest, the last coming with
just 2:35 left in regulation. He
finished that game with a season-worst minus-3.
It was the first time he finished that low in minus territory since his
rookie season, when he finished minus-3 in a 5-4 Gimmick loss to the New York
Rangers on February 11, 2009.
Post-Season… Alzner was on ice for only two of the 16 goals scored by
the Rangers, the fewest of any Capital defenseman while skating the second most
minutes (129:00) of any Cap defenseman at 5-on-5 (Mike Green: 147:40). The only goal on which Alzner could bear the
slightest fault was Carl Hagelin’s goal to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead in the
Rangers’ 4-3 win in Game 4. In that
instance, Alzner was late and not very aggressive at the Capitals’ blue line in
trying to interrupt the pass from Derick Brassard to Hagelin that led to the
goal. Otherwise, Alzner had an impressive post-season.
In the end…
Like so many of the Capitals, this was a learning year for Alzner. His lesson came in accommodating a new
partner. Last season, Alzner played 65
percent of his 5-on-5 minutes with John Carlson. In 2010-2011 it was 79 percent of his 5-on-5 minutes
spent with Carlson. This season, it was
less than 11 percent of his 5-on-5 minutes (numbers from
stats.hockeyanalysis.com). Alzner’s
primary partner at 5-on-5 this season was Mike Green, with whom he spent 59
percent of his 5-on-5 time. He also
spent substantial amounts of time with Tomas Kundratek (18 percent) and Steve
Oleksy (12 percent).
The way Alzner’s time was parceled among other defensemen also point to
the manner in which the club depends on him to be that shutdown defenseman, or
at least the reliable partner. His
principal partners were one who is primarily an offensive defenseman (Green)
and two youngsters who might have needed a chaperone from time to time
(Kundratek, Oleksy).
In that context it is reasonable to expect Alzner’s 48-game results
would experience some ups and downs, not entirely of his doing. One might think of this as a transition year
for Alzner, from prospect or young, up-and-coming defenseman, to that of the
cornerstone defender the team is going to depend on over the next few
years. It will make things interesting
in terms of his next contract, Alzner being a restricted free agent. But for now, this season, Alzner had a solid,
if not great season.
Grade: B
photo: Mitchell Layton/Getty Images North America
