Smooth Operator: Coast to Coast

Karl Alzner
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Country: Canada
Position: Defense
League: WHL
Team: Calgary Hitmen
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 210
Shoots: Left
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Scouting Report: Ultra-smooth defenseman hails from Burnaby and naturally lists Duck Scott Niedermayer as hockey hero…stands a tall six-foot-two and carries a solid 200+…hockey sense and instincts define the good players from the great and he has those qualities in spades…certainly has a great mind for the game…an all-compass skater whose skating is light and relaxed…has an active stick when shadowing a forward where he clogs lanes and breaks up plays…positionally sound rearguard…a calm guy who plays with ice water in his veins…an absolute staple on the Hitman blueline…does lack the edge that you would like to see from a top defenseman prospect…is not shy about initiating contact but it is obvious that he prefer/relies on smart, positional defense instead…does everything above average…logs a ton of minutes and has earned the confidence of coach Kisio…executes tape-to-tape outlets and smart chip outs…can thread any type of pass in any type of position…pinches effectively in the offensive zone…is a respectable point man on power play…could stand to reduce power play giveaways resulting from poorly timed passes…lack of physical game could be misconstrued as being passive and not competitive…the best overall defenseman in the draft.
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2006-2007 Regular Season Stats
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63 games 8 goals 39 assists 47 points +16 32 PIM
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2007 Playoff Stats
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18 games 1 goal 12 assists 13 points -3 4 PIM
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WJC '07 - Team Canada (Limited Icetime)
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6 games 0 goals 1 assist 1 point +1 2 PIM
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Draft Day Status/Projection: DraftBuzz feels Alzner is a sure bet for the top seven, and ranks him number five after the Big Four. Possible destinations for Alzner include LA at number four, and the most likely of all, Edmonton at six.

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(photo courtesy of www.tsn.ca)