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You’d think it must have been hard for Karl Alzner to watch the Washington Capitals win the Stanley Cup last season in their first year without him.

It was — at first.

Alzner spent nine seasons with the Capitals before signing a five-year, US$23.125-million contract as a free agent with the Canadiens on July 1, 2017.

“The first two rounds (of the playoffs) were more of like almost a negative thing,” Alzner said about watching his former team win its first Stanley Cup. “Don’t want to see the team that you were on win as soon as you’re not there. But then after they beat Pittsburgh (in the second round) it was all done. I knew the joy and excitement that they were probably feeling and it’s kind of like a flip switch. At that point, I was 100-per-cent confident they were going to win that third round (against the Tampa Bay Lightning) … I just knew it. And then after that you see the way they were playing it was excitement at that point.”