Karl Alzner Has 622-Game Ironman Streak Ended Due To Being A Healthy Scratch
Karl Alzner had his ironman streak broken last night, when Montreal Canadiens head coach decided to make Alzner a healthy scratch before game time. Alzner’s streak was the 4th longest in the NHL and the 12th longest in NHL history at 622 games.
Very confusing move out of Montreal last night putting Alzner up in the press box. Julien also decided to healthy scratch Tomas Plekanec, who the team signed this offseason. I mean, the team has almost 7 million tied up between the two of them. Alzner signed a 5-year, $23.125m contract last offseason with an AAV of $4.625m while Plekanec singed a one-year deal this offseason worth $2.25m.
Why healthy scratch two guys you pay so much money to? Why even keep them on the roster at this point? I’m sure you can find a trade partner if you eat a little money on each deal. It’s just a move that doesn’t make much sense to me. You are paying these guys, why not play them?
Alzner also has a NTC in his contract. So maybe that has something to do with it. But you got to imagine if you ask anyone in Montreal if they want to get traded they would say yes before you could finish the sentence.
Kind of a dick move by Julien. You got to do what is best for the team, but was sitting Alzner really going to make a difference?
The Habs ended up losing in OT last night to a very good Maple Leafs team and actually looked pretty good though, it’s one game though, so we won’t pass too much judgement. But going forward, I wonder if the youth movement is what we’ll see in Montreal this season instead of the vets.