“I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be.”
-- Douglas Adams
If you are not an offensive defenseman with a big shot or an ability to run a power play, or if you are not a big hitter on the back end for your club, your value is in being where you need to be on defense – a positional defender who depends on angles, stick placement, and position to prevent opponents from getting scoring chances and goals.
For Karl Alzner, the 2014-2015 season was a huge improvement
in the most basic of metrics for a defenseman – goals allowed on ice. Last season, Alzner was on ice for 85 goals
against, second most on the team and top (or bottom, depending on your
perspective) 30 in the league. In
2014-2015, Alzner shaved that number by 30 goals against, to 55. Part of that was time on ice. Alzner, while skating in all 82 games for
fourth time in his career (and in every game for the fifth consecutive year),
recorded almost 100 fewer total minutes in total ice time. That, in turn, was a reflection of his
playing primarily a second pairing role with Matt Niskanen.
In his ten-game progression, there is the trend.
Alzner had as slow start in what for him (or rather, given his
responsibilities) were revealing statistics.
Over his first three ten-game segments he was a minus-5 and had a
minus-ten overall goal differential.
From that stuttering start, however, he took off. In his fourth ten game segment, Alzner was
2-2-4, plus-10 and had a total goal differential of plus-9. It was his best ten-game segment of the
season. However, it was an odd segment
in which to do well. Those ten games
were evenly split between teams that would reach the playoffs (Ottawa, the
Rangers, Pittsburgh, the Islanders, and Chicago) and five that would not
(Columbus, New Jersey, Florida, Toronto, and Philadelphia). He did not record a
point in games against the playoff-bound teams.
Alzner was a “plus” player in eight of the ten games and even in the
other two. He was a plus-1 in scoring
chances for and against (numbers from war-on-ice.com), but he was a minus-5
overall in Corsi +/- (total shot attempts for and against).
Overall, Alzner finished the season with career bests in
goals (5), assists (16, the third time in four years he hit that number),
points (21), and plus-minus (plus-14, matching his 2010-2011 result). His shooting percentage of 6.9 percent for
the season was three times better than his career shooting percentage coming
into the season (2.3 percent).
Fearless’ Take: Alzner has been a rather consistent
defenseman over his five full seasons with the Caps, with two exceptions, both
of them this season. There is the
scoring that Peerless noted, Alzner setting or tying personal bests in goals,
assists, and points. But an edge crept
into his game this season. Hits are a
somewhat arbitrary statistic, but even allowing for that he was in a 73-98
range over his previous four seasons. This
season he finished with 120 hits, by far a career high. More offense, more physical play. New dimensions in Alzner’s game.
Cheerless’ Take: Let’s go back to those tens, cousins. His overall Corsi plus-minus over his last
three segments covering 32 games was minus-143.
Almost five more shots against than for per game over those games. The scoring chances plus-minus was minus-82;
that was after being a plus-33 over the first five ten-game segments. His scoring chances plus-minus over his last
segment was minus-41, almost three and a half more scoring chances against over
those 12 games.
Odd Alzner Fact: Alzner did have a career best five goals
this season, but none of them came against an Eastern Conference
playoff-eligible team. He was 0-3-3,
even, in 24 games against teams in the East reaching the post season. His five goals came against New Jersey (2),
Florida, Columbus, and St. Louis.
Game to Remember: March 26th versus New
Jersey. The Capitals were coming off a
3-0 shutout loss in Winnipeg against the Jets and a four-day break when the
hosted the New Jersey Devils in late March.
Karl Alzner was in a slump, recording only one assist in his previous
nine games and no goals in his previous 23 games before taking the ice against
the Devils. The Caps were treading water
over their previous eight games, going 4-4-0.
Alzner broke his goal drought early in the contest when he took a pass
from Matt Niskanen at the top of the left wing circle, stepped up, and fired a
wrist shot that beat goalie Cory Schneider on the short side to give the Caps
an early 1-0 lead. The teams exchanged
second period goals, but the Devils got the only third period goal to send the
game to overtime. In the second minute
of the extra session, Evgeny Kuznetsov tried to feed Marcus Johansson cutting
to the net, but Damon Severson got a stick on the puck to deflect it away from Johansson. The puck came bouncing out to the right point
where Alzner one timed a backhand pass to Matt Niskanen on the left point. Niskanen fired a shot that Kuznetsov
redirected past Schneider, giving the Caps a 3-2 win, a victory that would sent
the Caps off on a 6-2-1 finish to the regular season and give Alzner his second
two-point game of the season.
Game to Forget: November
1st versus Tampa Bay. The
Caps were not off to the hottest of starts with new head coach Barry
Trotz. They played October to a 4-3-2
record and were 1-3-0 to finish the month.
Things did not look a lot better to start this game. Ryan Callahan scored just over six minutes
into the game, sneaking out from behind the net to redirect a Brian Boyle shot
while Alzner was occupied by Brenden Morrow in front of the net. After the Caps took a 2-1 lead in the second,
the Lightning tied the game in the tenth minute of the period when Alzner got
caught chasing – first Tyler Johnson as he was curling through the faceoff
circle with the puck, then, when Johnson fed the puck forward, Nikita Kucherov
behind the Tampa Bay net. Kucherov fed
the puck back to Ondrej Palat in the space Alzner departed, and the Lightning
forward snapped it into the net to tie the game. Kucherov victimized Alzner for the Lightning’s
third goal when he redirected a drive by Eric Brewer with Alzner on his left
hip. The Caps tied the game late in the period
– a Troy Brouwer power play goal in the last minute – but the Lightning won
with a third period goal from Jason Garrison.
The three goals Alzner was on ice for was his high for the season.
Postseason: 2-2-4,
even, 1 GWG
Alzner set career bests in offensive contributions in the
playoffs, too. It was very much a
front-loaded contribution, though. He
had two goals in the Caps’ first five games of the first round against the New
York Islanders, then recorded just one assist in his last nine post season
games. As it was, his two goals led the
Caps’ defensemen in the playoffs (the team had only three), and his four points
was tied for second among blueliners.
The goals against were a bit more disturbing. After being on ice for 0.67 goals per game in
the regular season, Alzner was on ice for 11 goals against in 14 games
(0.79).
His Corsi-for share (47.95 percent) was not significantly
different from his regular season result (46.35), another indicator of
consistency and dependability (at least in terms of what to expect) in Alzner’s
game.
The better level of competition and the small number of
games does not make his overall contribution significantly different in the
post season compared to his regular season performance, but like a number of other
Caps, he was not quite up to what was needed in the strongest parts of his
game.
In the end…
Being a defensive defenseman in the NHL is a little like
being a cornerback in the National Football League. No matter how good you are, you are going to
get beat from time to time. Even though
Karl Alzner’s role changed a bit this season – moved off the top pair with John
Carlson to play second pair minutes – his game is still one of being a “shutdown”
defenseman. And in that role, he was
better this year than last. Or, perhaps
more accurately, more effective, as reflected in so many fewer goals scored
against the Caps with Alzner on ice.
Part of that might be attributed to better coaching. The Caps had a much more experienced group
behind the bench this season than they had last season. However, the player still needs to
execute. For the most part, Alzner did. His offensive numbers established a career
standard, and his goals against/on ice was quite a year-to-year
improvement.
But there were some underlying elements one would like to
see Alzner improve upon, the Corsi and scoring chance numbers, for
instance. On balance, though, it was a good
year for Alzner. He will have just
turned 27 years old when the season dawns next October, a signal that he is
entering what should be his prime years.
In that sense, we see what Alzner is, although he might be a better
version of it in the years to come – durable, dependable, unspectacular. It might be the perfect description of a second
pair defenseman, a role for which Alzner might be well suited, one that he
played quite well in 2014-2015. It might
not be where one thought a fifth-overall draft pick might go, but for the
Capitals it is a place he needs to be.
Grade: B
Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America