The Montreal Canadiens captain, Nick Suzuki, turned 26 this weekend. He’s no longer part of the 25-and-under group that is so often discussed when it comes to rebuilding teams, and with reason. He has grown older, but his list of accomplishments has also grown exponentially since he joined the Habs in the Max Pacioretty trade with the Vegas Golden Knights in September 2018. Whichever way you look at it, Suzuki is now an accomplished NHLer.
Since joining the Canadiens, he has been the team’s top scorer, a title he would still hold if assists were considered, given his 150-point lead over second-place scorer Brendan Gallagher. The captain has 375 points (138 goals and 237 assists), while his alternate has 225 points, six points ahead of Cole Caufield, who’s in third place with 219 points. Blueliner Jeff Petry comes in fourth place with 155 points, and Joel Armia rounds up the top five with 149 points.
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Suzuki has led the Canadiens in points for the last four seasons; the last time someone else led the Habs was in 2020-21 in the Canadian division season, prompted by Covid. That year, Tyler Toffoli had 44 points in 52 games while Suzuki had 41 points in 56 games.
His significance to the team is even more apparent when you look at the team’s point leaders by decades. In the 2000s, Saku Koivu led all team scorers with 428 points; in the 2010s, Pacioretty led with 423 points, and so far in the 2020s, the center has 375 points. Unless this upcoming season turns into an unmitigated nightmare for the Canadiens and their leader gets injured, he will fly past Koivu and Pacioretty’s numbers with half a decade to go. He’s already beaten their career season with Montreal as well. Koivu’s most prolific season saw him gather 75 points, while Pacioretty’s offensive ceiling was 67 points.
Last season was the captain’s first as a point-per-game (or more) player; he recorded 89 points, and it doesn’t even look like he’s reached his ceiling yet. To put up that kind of number when the Canadiens are still struggling to ice a legitimate top-six is remarkable. Every night, the first line faces the opponent’s top shutdown unit and best defenseman, yet Suzuki continues to produce.
When Montreal finally gets a real second line that’s able to take some of the scrutiny away from the top unit, Suzuki could become a 100-point scorer. He’s almost there already, and his ability to eat up so many minutes gives him plenty of scoring opportunities. Amazingly, last year, he only averaged 20:04 of time on ice, less than in his previous three seasons, but he didn’t lose offensive minutes. The discrepancy comes from the fact that he didn’t have to kill penalties this past season, leaving him with more energy for his offensive shifts.
With Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia gone, one can wonder if Suzuki will need to go back to the PK. A few youngsters are waiting in the wings to graduate to the NHL (Owen Beck, Oliver Kapanen) and have penalty killing experience, but are they ready to make the jump yet? We’ll have to see what training camp brings.
Whichever way you look at it, though, Suzuki is poised for another big season, and if he can channel the same energy that saw him carry the team to the playoffs last season, he may just become an unstoppable force for this Canadiens’ team. To quote an icon of Quebec culture, Elvis Gratton: “Think big…”.
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