Orpik is almost $1M more expensive than Alzner, and by far the worse player. A 2nd and a 3rd round pick does not make up the difference in value between the two Defensemen. Even if we accept the idea that the Canadiens would trade Alzner a year after signing him to a 5-year contract, that trade is not realistic.

Maybe the Capitals could get someone to take on Orpik as a Cap dump, but there's almost no way they'd get a decent player like Alzner in return.

caps dont need alzner id rather keep orpik for one more year......gain the cap space and move on......djoo will be if not already be better than alzner no need to pick a player out of our trash

As a Habs fan, I'd do it and start the rebuild

I put up an Alzner back to Washington scenario before I noticed this post. I'd do it regardless of a rebuild. This is actually a significantly higher return than I would expect as well.
Alzner simply isn't working out. Perhaps that changes with time, but I don't see it. He hasn't shown any signs of adapting, while he should have shown at least some progress by now.
He doesn't work with Weber, he barely works with Petry, and he's overpaid to play the 3rd pairing. If we can't get good value for him, any value at all would be fine by me.
It's not like we gave up assets for him and have to recoup anything. Just cut our losses on an ill-advised signing.
Wrong player, wrong contract, at the wrong time for Montreal.

Alzner had a horrible year for us last year, I don't want him back. Especially not at the cost of valuable draft picks, given that we need to start restocking our crappy farm system. We aren't going to resign both Eller and Beagle. As of right now, I'd be okay with giving Stephenson the 3C role and testing out Boyd and Graovac at 4C throughout the year, and using that cap space to bring in some other sort of support. Grubauer is going to get paid more than that, and I'd be stunned if he's still with us next season. He can be a starting goalie in this league, we'll most likely trade him for futures.