It was a good season for Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield and they both topped it off with a trophy win.
For years, the Montreal Canadiens were spectators when it came to the NHL award show, with the rare exceptions here and there when P.K. Subban won the Norris Trophy or when Carey Price won, well, pretty much everything. Last year, Lane Hutson grabbed the Calder Trophy as the league’s best rookie, and this season, it’s two major awards that Canadiens players have won. Captain Nick Suzuki was awarded the Frank J. Selke Trophy, while linemate Cole Caufield was awarded the Lady Bing Trophy.
The NHL took everyone by surprise on Friday morning with a double reveal, just as it had surprised the players when it presented each of them with their respective trophies in a team meeting the day after Game 3 of their second-round series against the Buffalo Sabres. Both had been told they were presenting the other with the award and had no idea that they, too, would be on the receiving end of one.
Coach Martin St-Louis gave the floor to Suzuki, who announced that Caufield had won the Lady Bring Trophy and handed it to him in front of a fired-up Habs team. After thanking his teammates and giving a short speech, the winger got to announce that the captain had also won a trophy, the Frank J. Selke. Surprisingly, in the media availability, the sniper confessed he was thrown off when the coach gave the floor to Suzuki since Caufield is a nervous public speaker. That gave rise to yet another round of applause from the Habs and another speech. The common denominator in both speeches was that they credited their teammates for their own accomplishments.
In a media availability, Suzuki gave credit to his dad for teaching him from a young age that if you were defensively responsible, you’d have more success offensively, as the coach would rely on him. He also credited his past experiences and mistakes with his defensive improvement over the years and with his learning to master his craft on both sides of the puck. Meanwhile, Caufield said that while Suzuki’s Selke win wasn’t exactly expected, it’s something his teammates always knew he had in him.
As for Caufield, he said he was honoured to win the Lady Bing, especially considering who has won it in the past and the fact that one of his fellow nominees this year was a guy with an incredible career (Anze Kopitar) and the other one was a great young player with a bright career ahead. Asked how much of a gentleman he is, the sharpshooter just chuckled and said he’s just trying to be a good guy. Not that he had to say that the way Caufield is on and off the ice is special; he’s always got a smile on his face and knows how to celebrate every one of his teammates’ successes. In winning the Lady Bing, Caufield followed in the footsteps of coach Martin St-Louis and friend Johnny Gaudreau, which made the win even more special for him.
Suzuki becomes the third player in Canadiens history to win the Selke after Bob Gainey (four times) and Guy Carbonneau (three times), and he won it by a landslide in the votes. 191 ballots listed him as one of the top five defensive forwards, including 151 first-place votes, giving him a total of 1,726 voting points. On top of putting up 101 points this season, Suzuki was everywhere on the ice, at even strength, on the power play, and on the penalty kill, and logged 1,707 minutes of ice time. He also took 32.2% of all Canadiens’ faceoffs, the third-highest total in the league. When he was on the ice, Montreal outscored the opposition 94-58.
Caufiled also becomes the third Hab to land the Lady Bing after Toe Blake and Mats Naslund. The voting was much closer for this award, as four players got at least 20 first-place votes, but the American finished with 776 voting points, 174 points ahead of second-place finisher Anze Kopitar. It should also be noted that Suzuki crept up in the ranking, finishing eighth in voting.
When both players were asked how they could top their last season, Suzuki replied that they could easily do so if they were still playing hockey at this time of year. While both were obviously pleased with the awards, those two trophies are not the ones they have their sights set on.
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