Good for Juice and good for Karl Alzner. From adversity comes opportunity. We were decimated with injuries on our blue line and some players have embraced the crisis and made the best of it. Chemistry on pairings is a wonderful thing and these two have been rock solid for us over the last half dozen games.
Well played. Keep it up and onward to a hopeful sell-out tonight against the Blues. Red vs. Blue, a true DC matchup, eh? 
I like this post - very funny.
Thanks for the coverage this late in the summer.
As an aside, Karl has a great personality. He is a very confident young man and will emerge as a great leader in the locker room. He has been the absolute stalwart leader of every team he has ever played on.
Thanks for stepping in Katie and coming to camp.
Here is a good piece on Karl Alzner. He is one of our next generation prospects; picked early in the draft; and perhaps getting ready to play in the NHL for us. It is an exciting time. Come on out this weekend and see some scrimmages.
Here we go again - back to the drafting tables. This is the weekend of the year where our amateur scouts earn their money and see payback for all of their time spent on the road.
We have a first round pick and a bunch of second round picks. We can trade up. We can make some trades for more picks. We can use our picks and prospects for a trade of a player that can help us today. We can trade some picks for this year for some picks in an out year. We can stay put and use them all. We have a lot of choices.
George McPhee plays it so close to the vest that even I don’t know what he is thinking. I do know that he listens to his scouts and professionals and that they fight and argue - in a good-hearted fashion - about who are the best players at what positions. I also know that the team’s philosophy is to pick the best available player on the board that is left when it is our time to pick. We don’t usually draft by positional need.
I do know now that we have a lot of fire power; a lot of role players; and a lot of goalie prospects in the pipeline. We have work to do in the off season on finalizing our lineup for next season but the draft will add to our potential lineup. Last year’s #1 pick, Karl Alzner, will be fighting for a spot in the lineup when camp opens. The NHL draft is a time of renewal and of potential and a time for us to hope and dream. Can we find someone who is a steal in the later rounds? Can we package up a pick and a player for a player that impacts our team today? Stay tuned. This is a fun time of year. The draft is how we chose to rebuild the team. It works. It is important and fundamental. Wish George and the scouting team luck this weekend.
Last off season and pre-season, I received numerous emails and read some board postings from some of our fans on Nicklas Backstrom. Comments like “He is a bust”, ”Backstrom was at best a second round pick” and ”You blew this pick” came from some of our most earnest board posters directly to me. I think Nicklas Backstrom turned out to be a pretty good pick, don’t you? He is up for Rookie of the Year consideration. Alex Semin, Mike Green and Jeff Schultz all turned out pretty good too, didn’t they? Mike Green was picked 29th in the draft. Do you NOT think 28 other GMs are asking their scouts what went wrong in that draft?
Today I have received 3 emails - very, very deeply negative on Karl Alzner. What is up with these fans? He was Player of the Year in his league. He was captain of the Junior National team. He will most likely be a top 4 D-man in the NHL for a long, long time. Give the kid a break, will ya?
Karl Alzner just won the Player of the Year award from the Western Hockey League. He is projected as a Top 2 D man in the NHL. He is a leader and a winner and he has a great personality. Check out who else has won this award in this league.
The future continues to look bright for us as we draft and develop our players well.
