The Montreal Canadiens took hockey twitter by storm Monday afternoon after Karl Alzner was placed on waivers and Habs fans had their thoughts on it.
Something had to give on the Montreal Canadiens. The team has a lot of injuries including Joel Armia, Paul Byron, Nikita Scherbak, and Noah Juulsen, but at some point, the Habs would have to do something to handle the number of bodies on the active roster. And that’s how Karl Alzner landed on waivers.
Alright, that’s not fair to say regarding this entire storyline. The blood of Alzner’s fate within the Montreal Canadiens organization was in the water long before the decision was made. It’s come from hockey minds around the NHL and the fans.
Habs fans, in particular, have been calling for some kind of Alzner movement dating back to last season. It was more than a random surge of player hate. The 30-year-old was advertised as a shutdown defenceman who can slide into the top-four and play key minutes against other team’s best players.
Montreal tried playing Alzner with Jeff Petry, Shea Weber, and Jordie Benn throughout the year. It wasn’t until Juulsen was up when he would look somewhat stable. But his deficiencies were put on notice a lot more this season.
Claude Julien is putting a lot of responsibility on the defence to contribute offensively. That in large also comes from Luke Richardson and the way he’s running the blueline. The formula counts on a decent degree of skating allowing the defender to pinch up along the wall but have enough speed to get back. And those are things that Alzner unfortunately lacks.