Former Washington Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner has a new home.
Alzner signed a five-year, $23.125 million with the Montreal Canadiens as free agency began Saturday.
Alzner, 28, will earn an average of $4.625 million per year through the 2021-22 season. Alzner spent nine seasons with the Capitals, but knew he was unlikely to be retained.
Last season, Alzner had 13 points (3 goals, 10 assists) with the Capitals. He missed six games in the NHL playoffs with a broken bone in his hand. During that time, defenseman Nate Schmidt stepped into Alzner’s role and thrived.
The Capitals elected not to sign Alzner considering Washington’s lack of salary cap space and other needs. The Capitals need a top four defenseman like Alzner after Schmidt was drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights, but he was out of the Capitals’ price range.
The Capitals re-signed Dmitry Orlov to a six-year, $30.6 million contract Friday and re-signed T.J. Oshie to an eight-year, $46 million last week, eating the majority of Washington’s cap room. They have $12.45 million left and still need to re-sign restricted free agents Evgeny Kuznetsov, Andre Burakovsky and Philipp Grubauer, all of who are priorities for the Capitals.
“Montreal was the only city we saw and we got a heck of an impression from it,” Alzner told the NHL Network. “We’re fortunate we got something done.”
Alzner won’t have to wait long before returning to Washington as the Canadiens are the Capitals’ home-opener on Oct. 7.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.