1. The Boston Bruins should bring in Karl Alzner for a PTO.
At 32 years old, Karl Alzner‘s last two years of his five-year, $23.125 million deal with the Montreal Canadiens were just bought out this past October.
Over the last two seasons, Alzner has suited up for just 13 games, recording just one assist and an even +/-. However, before this, Alzner was an ironman not missing a single game for eight straight seasons.
Alzner is capable of bringing a good, two-way style of defense. With 686 career games under his belt, Alzner has a career +/- of +54, 843 hits, and 1,279 blocked shots.
Along with this, the 6-foot-3 defenseman is capable of bringing a bit of offense with 130 career points.
If Alzner can remain healthy, he would be a great fit for the left side of the Bruins’ defense. He has proven to be able to play big minutes averaging River 20 minutes of ice time per game over his career.
With the lack of experience and certainty that comes with the current left side of Boston’s defense, Alzner could plug right in on either the second or third pairing.
Along with playing at even strength, Alzner is also capable of killing penalties and, from his stats stated previously, clearly isn’t afraid to throw some body checks and block some shots.
Because of the lack of experience that the Bruins have when it comes to the left side of their defense, I think it would be a good idea for the team to bring in at least one of these three defensemen for a PTO. Their veteran presence and depth good benefit the team tremendously.