Karl Alzner reacts to buyout by Canadiens; talks future in the NHL

Just three years into his five year, $21.125 million contract with the Montreal Canadiens, defenceman Karl Alzner is being cut loose by the team and it appears he couldn't be happier.

"There's obviously no guarantee that I get another opportunity somewhere or a good opportunity somewhere,” Alzner told The Athletic shortly after receiving the news on Tuesday that he was being bought out. “But either way, it kind of feels like I'm free. It might be a weird way for me to describe it, but things haven't been fun for the last three years, so I'm just happy that we can just move on from that. I'm as happy as you can possibly be right now.”

Alzner appeared to be a solid pickup by the Habs when he signed on as a free agent in June of 2017, but things went south quickly.

"It didn't work out. Our team was not good and I wasn't necessarily thriving under that system," said Alzner. "Sometimes you bring things upon yourself, and that probably has a lot to do with it. There's definitely no reason for me to lay the blame on anybody else. I'm the player, I should be able to make things work anywhere. But there's probably something in the back of my mind that wasn't really allowing me to do that, and this is the result.”

Come Friday, Alzner is free to sign wherever he can, but he isn't certain he'll get that opportunity and he admits that's a bit scary.

"I'm hoping there is something, we'll see. There's been three years of some damage that's been done. From talks that I've had, there should be some opportunities. But you never know with the cap and everything that's happened. We'll see,” he said. “Money is not on the priority list. I'm fully aware of it, and it's not like I have too much of a choice at this point. And I'm ok with that. I still want to play hockey and I'm just going to look for anything that's out there. But if I do have more options, then I'll start breaking them down and see which one suits me better.”

While Alzner admitted the last three years have been tough, he still took the time to thank Montreal for the opportunity and for giving him a fresh start. Alzner spent most of last season with the Laval Rocket of the AHL. He did join the Canadiens in the playoff bubble in Toronto but did not get to play.

Source: The Athletic

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