Nick Suzuki had the best season of his young career last year, leading his Montreal Canadiens back to the playoffs. While that’s not the ultimate goal, it’s a necessary passage and one he’ll hope to take once again this season.
The captain scored 89 points in 82 games last season, for a 1.09 points-per-game on the season. Only five other centers had more points than him: Nathan MacKinnon, Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, and Sidney Crosby. Of those, only three are Canadian, Draisaitl is German, and Eichel is American. Meaning Suzuki was the fourth-highest-scoring Canadian center last season.
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In other words, from a strictly offensive standpoint, his candidacy for the Canadian Olympic team should be taken seriously. He might not have cut the 4 Nations Face-Off, but his performance after the resulting break was nothing short of extraordinary. Even though the same coaching staff will be leading Canada at the Olympics, I believe there’s a good chance the captain gets the nod this time around.
In the 26 games the Canadiens played after the international event, he gathered 37 points for a 1.42 PPG in that span. On the season, MacKinnon has a 1.47 PPG, McDavid has a 1.49 PPG, and Crosby has a 1.14. That’s an impressive production rate by any standard.
If Suzuki is to make the Canadiens roster for the International tourney, he may need more than pure offensive production, while that, of course, doesn’t hurt. With a line-up that will essentially be an All team, there’s got to be another way to shine, and for the Habs’ leader, that’s likely to be his versatility.
Whichever way you look at it, Suzuki can do everything on the ice. He can play at even strength and be defensively responsible as well. He finished the season with a plus-19 rating; in comparison, Crosby has a minus-20 rating. Of course, that’s not the most telling stat, but his improvement in that category accurately reflects Suzuki’s improvement on the defensive side of the puck.
Suzuki can also play on the man advantage; 27 of his 89 points were obtained playing on the power play, and he spent an average of 3:28 per game playing under those circumstances. When the Canadiens were desperate for wins in the tail end of the season, Martin St-Louis even used the captain on both of his power play units. Granted, there’s no lack of candidates to play on Team Canada’s power play, but it’s still yet another chord to Suzuki’s bow.
Last season, the captain was able to focus more on the offensive side of his game with Josh Anderson transitioning into a penalty killing role and joining forces with his center, Christian Dvorak, on the second PK unit. As for the first unit, it featured Jake Evans and Joel Armia. Whichever way you look at it, their departures leave two big holes in the Canadiens’ PK.
When one of the penalty killers was sitting in the box, it was Suzuki who was called upon to replace the guilty party, which leads me to believe that unless someone makes a surprising case to inherit a PK spot, the 25-year-old leader will get another opportunity to show what he can do when playing down a man.
Not that Team Canada’s penalty kill was inefficient at the 4 Nations Face-Off, it was flawless surrendering no goals. Bottom line is, though, with the additional roster spots for the Olympics, if you are bringing alternates who can fill in the event of an injury, you might as well get someone who will be able to be a Swiss knife in your lineup and fill in whichever position up front and be able to handle any kind of responsibilities.
It’s also worth noting that while Suzuki hasn’t got much international experience, he is used to playing under pressure, having spent his whole career under the Montreal magnifying glass. The center doesn’t shy away from important moments either. He’s seventh in the league for game-winning goals with nine (tied with Dylan Guenther and Sebastian Aho, who have both played fewer games and get the fifth and sixth spots) and third in overtime goals with five (tied with Aho, who gets the second spot once again, having played fewer games).
When the puck drops on the season, Team Canada staff will be watching everyone in the league and taking notes. Suzuki will have plenty of opportunities to show them just how much of a complete player he is, and the rest will be up to them.
Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
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