Alzner on board

Per the team, the Capitals have signed Team Canada (jr) Captain and WHL player of the year Karl Alzner to a (standard) 3 year rookie contract. Alzner was the Caps first round pick (5th overall) in the 2007 entry draft.

I expect Alzner to split time between Hershey and Washington next year, unless he shows something truly remarkable in development and training camp. The Deuce, however, has him pegged as a full time Cap in his rookie season. I'll gladly pay up the 20 bucks I bet him if that's the case, since he's been pegged as the rock solid physical defenseman the Caps so desperately need. For more on Alzner, click here to read Vogs' washingtoncaps.com feature.

Caps kids sent down for seasoning

Per Tarik, the Caps have sent first round draft pick Karl Alzner back to his junior team. Despite his potential, Alzner still needs time to mature physically before he's ready for the rigors of an NHL schedule.

Francois Bouchard and Josh Godfrey were also sent back to their respective junior teams.

Karl Alzner has a cool hat

He's also a pretty good hockey player. To see how these two items relate, click here.

Summer Camp for (Caps) Kids

Tomorrow through Saturday, you can get a glimpse of a gander of young Caps prospects at the Capitals Summer Development Camp at Kettler Iceplex. On-ice workouts will be open to the public, as will scrimmages that run from 4:30 to 6 PM daily. I hear some kids named Alzner and Backstrom will be there.

Also, the pro-shop at Kettler has a couple items with the new Caps logo, so if you're looking to impress your friends with shiny new duds, you can pick up mens and womens shirts there (my Ovechkin t-shirt was a very reasonable 20 bucks).

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Update: Varlamov is there, too. Sweet. The complete roster for the camp can be found here.

Come on down...

Karl Alzner.


And is it just me, or was McPhee working the phone pretty hard before the pick? At any rate, this is a solid pick for the Caps, who already have a wealth of young defensemen. As the Capitals teams from the 80s proved, you can never have too many quality defensemen in the organization. Whether Alzner plays with the big club this year or (more likely) spends a year down in Hershey, he's officially the first draftee of the second wave of Caps prospects.

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I'm liking this pick more and more as the moments go by... especially after this tidbit from OFB - "[Alzner] lists making a good first pass out of the zone as an asset." Anyone who watched the Caps trying to break out of their own zone last year should be doing backflips right now.