Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki spoke to the media yesterday at his golf tournament, a clear sign that the new season is coming.
On Thursday, Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki held his annual golf tournament for the Assista Foundation and briefly spoke to the media. In a scrum, he touched on various topics, going from the salary cap to his leadership style and the fact that Zachary Bolduc and Arber Xhekaj have yet to sign.
Unsurprisingly, much like Juraj Slafkovsky when he spoke in Europe a few days ago, the captain is happy with his deal:
I’m happy for those guys. It’s great to see the league taking steps with, you know, salaries. It’s pretty crazy to see numbers come around, but I’m pretty happy with my contract, so it doesn’t really matter. It’s kind of what happens when you sign a long-term deal. I signed that deal like five years ago now, so times change; next time we’re all up, the cap’s going to be in a different spot.
In other words, when those contracts are up, the players will want a raise, which is fair, and that’s something GM Kent Hughes must already have in mind. Building a team and keeping it together in the salary cap era is not all that easy, and while Hughes may go and get some outside help at market value, he’s got to be mindful of how much he’ll need to re-sign his top players and plan for the future. That shouldn’t be a problem for a man who has spent years dealing with numbers as a player agent.
When asked if he was going to change his leadership style, the captain replied:
Definitely try to be, probably a little harder on the group. We’ve gone through a lot, learning things together, and expectations will be higher from the outside and internally. So, we’ve got to keep that standard up; we’ve said to try to drive that in every day.
It wouldn’t be a shock to see that, since even though the Habs made their way to the Eastern Conference Final, they were easily dismissed by the Carolina Hurricanes. Suzuki praised the Hurricanes for how detailed their game is; clearly, he feels they have mastered their system and apply it relentlessly. That success didn’t happen overnight, though; they lost three times in the Conference Final, including two sweeps, and in their third attempt, they lost 4-1 to the champions-to-be Florida Panthers. Martin St-Louis has said time and time again that the toughest thing for a young NHL player is playing consistently, but that also applies to the team as a whole.
As for the fact that Bolduc and Xhekaj still haven’t signed, Suzuki’s not worried:
They’re both really important players; Zack had a good year. I thought he took steps throughout the season and into the playoffs. Arber is an important piece for our locker room and on the ice. So hopefully both guys can get it done. There’s still plenty of time, so I’m pretty hopeful.
The Canadiens kick off the preseason in 17 days with their traditional golf tournament, and training camp opens in 19 days. Chances are Suzuki will face even more questions on September 14 at the team’s tournament, but he still had a nice warm-up on Thursday.
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