Habs’ Alzner finally weighs in on Capitals’ Stanley Cup victory

When former Washington Capitals defensemen Karl Alzner elected to test the free agent market in the summer of 2017, he was looking for not only a pay day, but a chance to play on a Stanley Cup calibre roster. After years of disappointment with the Capitals, Alzner was happy for a fresh start with the Montreal Canadiens. Flash forward just over a year though and the Caps are defending Cup champion while the Habs attempt to claw their way back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Alzner recently sat down with Tim Wharnsby of NHLPA.com to discuss the Caps’ Cup victory and what it felt like to watch his friends and former teammates hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup without him. Check out some of these quotes from Wharnsby’s latest column:

“I usually don’t follow the playoffs that closely when I’m not in them,” Alzner said. “In the first two rounds, you think, there’s no way they’re going to win, it can’t happen. Then when they got over the hump and beat Pittsburgh in the second round, it was like they flipped the switch. Then you could kind of feel it, that this was it.”

“It was interesting for me because it was two completely different sets of emotions,” Alzner said. “At first you want to feel you were a big part of the team, and you don’t want to think that they were about to have more success without you.”

“It was the first time I was happy to see a team that I wasn’t on, win,” Alzner said. “That team has 15 of my closest friends and I was happy for them. It was a roller coaster of emotions. But the way I saw it was when do you get a chance to see 15 of your closest friends realize their dream.”

“This was the one accomplishment Ovie needed to cement his legacy,” Alzner said.

What a guy… not a bitter bone in his body.