Habs veteran threatens trade demand this season.

This is not a good way to endear yourself with your organization's fanbase.

One of the big mistakes in the tenure Montreal Canadiens' general manager Marc Bergevin thus far has been his decision in the summer of 2017 to sign veteran defense Karl Alzner to a long term contract. The blue liner was coming off a pretty solid stretch as a member of the Washington Capitals and was being viewed as one of the more prominent defensemen that would become available as unrestricted free agents. I believe that even Bergevin would admit that he overpaid for Alzner, but that is the nature of unrestricted free agency, however in doing so he was expecting solidify his top 4 on the blue line for the foreseeable future. 

The reality of the 5 year $23 million dollar deal signed by Alzner has been much bleaker than even the staunchest critics of the deal would have predicted. Instead of solidifying the Habs top 4 Alzner has been an unmitigated disaster for the Canadiens, so much so in fact that the Habs chose last season to demote him down to the American Hockey League. Alzner played just 9 games at the NHL level during the 2018 - 2019 NHL regular season, spending an additional 34 as a member of the Laval Rocket, the Habs AHL affiliate.

Given his large cap hit and failures as a Montreal Canadiens Alzner has become a frequent target of criticism from the fan base, and he may have just made things infinitely worse for himself in that regard. Speaking with French news outlet TVA Sports Alzner reportedly made it clear that he would demand a trade if he continued to receive the same treatment he did last season as a member of the Canadiens organization. Asked if he would make such a demand if he was sent down to the AHL again, Alzner responded in the affirmative. 

"If it is going to be like last season, certainly," said Alzner as per TVA Sports.

The problem of course is that it seems highly unlikely that any team would express interest in Alzner at this stage, at least not unless the Canadiens were themselves taking on another bad contract in the deal. Alzner has a modified no trade clause that allows him to submit a 7 team no trade list, and carries a cap hit of $4.625 million per season for 3 more years. None of those are conducive to getting a deal done, so Alzner's trade demands may fall on deaf ears.