Once again, this year, captain Nick Suzuki was the Montreal Canadiens’ representative at the NHL media tour and fielded quite a few questions during the event. The media wanted to know just what the London, Ontario native did during the 4 Nations Face-Off break to have such an amazing second part of the season.
Turns out there was no special training or diet. When the NHL shut down for the Tournament, the captain went back home quickly to do some house shopping. He visited a couple of houses and then came back to Montreal to watch the tournament.
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He had this to say about missing out on the experience:
Watching the tournament motivated me a lot because I wanted to be there, watching the games and seeing how good they were, and the experience those guys got was really cool. I definitely came back from that break wanting to prove what I could do, and having the time off helped. There were probably a lot of guys in my shoes who thought they could have been on the roster. And that’s a tough thing about Canada, a lot of us have that experience, and who knows what the Olympics roster will look like, but it was definitely on my mind a lot this summer training and preparing for the season. I need to have a good start to be in consideration. It’s on my mind for sure.- Suzuki on missing out on the 4 Nations Face-Off
If Suzuki is as motivated as he was last season by the 4 Nations snub, it can only benefit the Canadiens. Not that he wasn’t playing well before the break, he’s consistently been the Habs leader and best player, but he hit a whole new level in the second half of the season. Suppose he’s able to maintain that same level of play. In that case, the Tricolore will only benefit from it, and Suzuki himself should have the best season of his career, which should help his linemates Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky hit new levels as well.
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