The Capitals have made their final major offseason move, signing defenseman Karl Alzner to a two-year, $2.57 million contract on Friday. That’s a salary-cap hit of $1.285 million per season.
Alzner, 22, became a restricted free agent on July 1, but negotiations between the two sides have been ongoing for months. The fifth pick in the 2007 NHL draft, Alzner has quickly developed into a reliable presence on Washington’s blueline. He and defensive partner John Carlson became the Caps’ No. 1 pair by the middle of the season, catching heavy minutes against quality competition from late December on.
“He deserved the ice time and the positioning he got- playing against the other teams’ top-lines most every night,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Karl is such a good stay-at-home defenseman that he gives a lot of faith to the coaching staff when we put him out there that he’s not going to make a mistake.”
These contract negotiations were complicated because Alzner is not yet eligible for salary arbitration. That happens next summer. Alzner and his agent, J.P. Barry, had until Friday to sign Washington’s qualifying offer of $826,875. It’s also more difficult to determine the value of a defense-first defenseman. Alzner is still a work-in-progress on the offensive side with two goals and 10 assists last season. According to the web site Behind the Net, the Caps allowed just 1.90 goals against for every 60 minutes Alzner was on the ice. That was the best of any Washington defenseman, including Carlson (1.93). The next closest was Mike Green (2.11), who played just 49 games.
Even though Green (2:21), Carlson (2:19), Scott Hannan (2:40), Jeff Schultz (2:26), and Dennis Wideman (2:25) all saw more time on the PK in 2010-11, Alzner wasn’t far off their minutes (2:07) and should be used more there in 2011-12. But on the power play Alzner played just 30:38 all season. And at even strength he produced just those 12 points. Can he improve offensively? And if so, what’s his ceiling there?
“[Alzner] is going to get points by making that good first pass,” Caps assistant coach Bob Woods said. “I think he can shoot more. I think he’s got a better shot than I think he gives himself credit for. And again as a defenseman it’s not as much power. It’s getting pucks through. I think a lot of times you might see where he’s just throwing it back around the net where maybe he could take a little more initiative trying to make a play and get a shot on net so we have an opportunity to score.”
That completes general manager George McPhee’s offseason moves – barring a major trade, of course. His team is around $1 million over the NHL’s $64.3 million salary cap – though you are allowed to go as much as 10% over during the summer. McPhee said again this week that defenseman Tom Poti (groin) is still fighting for his career as he tries to rehab an injury that crippled his 2010-11 season. If he must go on long-term injured reserve to start the season that clears $2.875 million of cap space and gives the team some breathing room.
Add in Alzner’s contract to a final roster with – just speculating here – Mattias Sjogren, Jay Beagle and D.J. King as the last forwards and Poti on LTIR and Washington would be at $1.084,872 under the cap at the start of the season. With guys inevitably going on injured reserve, cheaper call-ups from Hershey getting time in Washington etc., there will also be some room to bump up that space. But there’s still time to figure all that. For now, the Caps are just happy to have one of their top young players back in the fold.
“[Alzner] can make the first pass, he can shoot the puck,” Boudreau said. “I think if he got between 20 and 30 points for us and played the 18 to 20 minutes or more that we think that he’s capable of playing, he’s going to be an extremely good shutdown defenseman because his body’s getting bigger and stronger and he still hasn’t reached his full man strength yet.”
Follow me on Twitter @bmcnally14
