MCLEAN, Va. — Up until the very moment his name was called, Karl Alzner never had the Capitals on his radar.
The defenseman arrived at the 2007 NHL Draft in Columbus, Ohio, certain he was either going to the Los Angeles Kings at four or the Edmonton Oilers at six. So, when then-Capitals GM George McPhee walked to the podium to announce the fifth overall pick and started with, “From the London Knights,” seemingly indicating they were taking center Sam Gagner, Alzner thought his fate had been decided and Edmonton would be his new team.
However, McPhee then stopped and corrected himself, announcing a surprise selection of Alzner instead. After feeling like he could’ve done better in his interviews with Washington at the NHL Combine, Alzner never thought the Capitals were considering him. But there they were, making him a key piece of a young core that already included the likes of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and John Carlson. And he was better off for it.
“It really was just the perfect situation for me,” Alzner said in an interview with NBC Sports Washington at his McLean, Virginia, home. “I don’t know if people realize how important it is to be put in a good situation. You could be a great player and go to a team that just has no space for you and you can just get set aside… You need to be put in the right spot. Otherwise, it’s just so hard to succeed. And I was, so I was lucky.”
On Wednesday, the Capitals will draft a player inside the top 10 for the first time since selecting Alzner 16 years ago. A lot has changed for the organization over that time, but many front-office executives have remained in place and Alzner expects the team to take the same forward-thinking approach to its upcoming pick’s development that it did with him as a prospect.
“I think there’s a big separation between the good organizations and the average ones,” Alzner said. “The Caps understood that they needed to build the foundation. There [are] a few players that are ready to just go. The Ovi’s, the Backstrom’s, those players that can just step right in and it’s OK. Other guys need more seasoning and patience is key…The Caps do a good job of being patient and allowing players to figure out what their role is going to be.”
One of the Capitals’ executives who helped make the Alzner pick was Ross Mahoney, who has been an assistant general manager under GM Brian MacLellan for nine seasons after serving as Washington’s director of amateur scouting for 16 years.
Mahoney acknowledged that many of the team’s thinking processes behind player evaluation have changed due to the rise of analytics, increased accessibility of player film and the influx of international players from non-traditional hockey countries. Their willingness to see a young player’s development through has not.
“We’ve always been very, very patient with our prospects,” Mahoney said in a Zoom press conference Thursday. “I think it’s the right way to go. There’s no sense to rush them into the NHL…It’s part of our team philosophy of taking our time and overcooking them, so to speak, and I think it’s paid big dividends for us.”
As the Capitals prepare to select the next integral piece for their franchise, Alzner implored that whoever hears Washington call their name study up on the organization and figure out where they can best carve out a role. If they do make it to the NHL quickly enough to play alongside stars such as Ovechkin or Backstrom, he had two words for them: “Pay attention.”
“You want to come in and watch,” Alzner said. “You can learn so much from the other players, way more than you’re going to learn from just sitting in the video room and watching video. It’s very hard to come in and ask questions too because you feel like you should just know the stuff. But you don’t. So, coming in, asking questions, paying attention to those players that have been here for so long and put in the work.”