When Karl Alzner was with the Capitals, the Washington media came up with a new award that was basically created to honour him and the memory of Hockey Hall of Fame beat writer Dave Fay, who covered the team for more than two decades and died in 2007 at age 67.
In 2016, Alzner was the inaugural winner of the Dave Fay Award, which goes to the Capitals player “who exhibits a strong rapport with the media.” Media members who cover the Capitals also call it the “Good Guy Award.”
In 2017, Alzner left the Capitals as a free agent and signed a five-year, US$23.125-million contract with the Canadiens. Things haven’t worked out for Alzner on the ice with the Canadiens, but off the ice he remains one of the nicest guys you will ever meet in pro sports. Heck, he’s one of the nicest guys you will meet anywhere.
So, I had a smile on my face Wednesday when Alzner was the player captain Shea Weber picked to lead the team stretch at centre ice as the Canadiens wrapped up practice in Brossard. It’s a spot Alzner never expected to be.
“I thought 100 per cent it wasn’t going to happen,” Alzner said about getting called up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket last week. “I saw some of the other guys get called up throughout the year and I thought for sure it wasn’t going to happen. Honestly, I wasn’t really expecting this.”
Alzner played only nine games with the Canadiens last season and had played none this season before injuries decimated the defence and the 31-year-old finally got called up from Laval last week after Victor Mete fractured his foot and Xavier Ouellet suffered a concussion. Alzner played his second game with the Canadiens in Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks at the Bell Centre, logging 15:21 of ice time with one shot, two blocked shots and an even in plus/minus.
With 12 years of NHL experience, Alzner could have sulked in Laval and become a bad influence on young players. But he’s simply too good a guy to do that and instead became a positive role model, earning the respect of his teammates and coach Joël Bouchard. Last season, on a scale of 1 to 10, Bouchard said he liked Alzner as a 12. This season, the coach bumped that up to a 14.
“I guess the thing that helps me is I’m not a guy with an ego,” Alzner said after Wednesday’s practice. “I have feelings and my feelings were hurt, for sure. But there’s no ego there. So for me to have people say: ‘Are you even going to report?’ — that’s not even a question. I’m going to go and play and do my thing. I still love to play hockey and when I have that opportunity I’m going to do it.”
It has become pretty obvious Alzner has no future with the Canadiens at this point and he hasn’t had any discussions with GM Marc Bergevin about the possibility of having the final two years of his contract bought out this summer, which would be the best thing for him. Alzner still has a goal of playing 1,000 NHL games (he’s at 684), a milestone he would have reached in the final season of his current contract if he stayed in the Canadiens’ lineup. Now he has an unexpected opportunity to show scouts from other teams he can still play in the NHL.
“I think that people around the league still know my game,” Alzner said. “First and foremost is winning games here and if you win games here then you get more looks. That’s the goal right now.”
They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and being such a good guy comes naturally for Alzner after watching his parents, Gunther and Karin, who are both retired and live in Burnaby, B.C. Gunther was a longtime warehouse manager for Makita Canada and Karin was what Alzner calls a “people helper” at Vancouver’s GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre.
“My parents are really, really great people,” Alzner said. “I think they’re inclusive, they talk to people all the time. My dad can’t have a conversation with anybody without joking and having a good time. He goes to get a coffee, it should take 30 seconds but it takes him 10 minutes. That kind of guy. My mom is a very well-rounded person, too.”
Alzner added that his “killer instinct” that helped him to make it to the NHL came from his sister, Pamela.
“She’s a fighter … that’s kind of funny,” Alzner said with a smile.
Despite everything he has gone through in his hockey career the last two seasons, Alzner still smiles easily and is enjoying life on Montreal’s South Shore with his wife and three young children.
“My goal always was — hockey goals, on-ice goals aside — to try and make as many friends as possible and have as many good relationships as possible,” he said. “That’s something that’s usually at the front of my life.”
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