Ouch.

Blocking shots in the NHL is an art form. While guys like Pavel Datsyuk and Alexander Semin get all the accolades for their sublime puck handling abilities, the knowledge of how to block a shot catches just as many eyes from coaches and GM’s. The skill is so revered that Washington Capitals’ coach Bruce Boudreau used to dedicate a jersey to journeyman Quintin Laing. Let’s not pussyfoot around it, Laing was dressed for nothing more than his defensive awareness and balls. The guy couldn’t stickhandle around a drunk John Erskine, but his willingness to put his body infront of speeding frozen rubber carved a niche on the Capitals team for a fair stint of games. As the Capitals have improved (especially defensively) Quintin has fallen off the depth chart, having just signed a professional contract in the East Coast Hockey League, two steps down from the National Hockey League.

With a group of highly touted prospects coming into Washington’s defensive corp, most notably John Carlson and Karl Alzner, the need to dedicate a forward slot to a player like Quintin Laing kept diminishing. Hell, we already have Boyd Gordon and David Steckel. John Carlson, American Hero, will continue to push Mike Green as the leader in offensive awareness from the blueline, while Karl Alzner will hold down the fort, hopefully picking up age old secrets of the game from guys like Tom Poti.

Back to the puck versus foot argument, take a peek over here.

Yikes, maybe I should retire my Easton Stealth S15’s…

Anyways, the video makes perfectly clear the catastrophe that a puck can ravage on it’s unsuspecting blocker (Patrick Thoresen, anyone?).

Karl Alzner currently skates in the successor to the Nike Bauer ONE95 seen in the video, the Bauer TOTALone skate. Upon closer inspection, though, we can note an interesting addition to the foot.

Those clear guards on his wheels are shot-blocking aids, very rigid plastic pieces designed to take the brunt impact of the puck’s velocity and disperse it away from the boot and the foot inside the boot.

Sure they are a bit cumbersome. The ice hockey skate market has been for the past couple years dominated by a “lighter is better” philosophy. The Easton S15 was the first sub-800 gram skate, in a size 8, which was a tremendous selling point alongside it’s one piece composite boot, the reason why it was so light. Alzner has seemed to throw this logic to the window, and for good reason.

A look around the league at other players who sport these extra pads?

Chris Pronger.

Hal Gill.

Anton Volchenkov.

So we have Karl Alzner, Capitals first round pick following in the extra padded footsteps of Chris Pronger (no hyperbole necessary), Hal Gill (who singlehandly dominated the Capitals in the 2010 playoffs), and Anton Volchenkov (reigning NHL shot-blocking machine).

Rememeber all the cries from Capitals fans the past two years begging for a shutdown defenseman that can be utilized against the opposition’s top goal scoring lines?

Looks like the Capitals have had one since the fifth pick in the 2007 entry draft. It’ll be great to watch him develop further into the professional game, and he’s certainly following the padded footsteps of some of the elite in the NHL.

Alzner is fully aware of his position on the Capitals roster and how he will succeed in the NHL. Couple this knowledge with his work ethic…

It’ll be damn exciting to watch.