The Hockey News released its top-100 players list, and the Canadiens' captain is 48th on the list, according to the publication.
The Hockey News released its list of the Top 100 NHL players this season in April, and four Montreal Canadiens have made the list. Yesterday, we covered Juraj Slafkovsky, who’s 94th on the list. Today, we look at the second Hab on the list, which is at number 48: Captain Nick Suzuki.
THN justifies his presence at number 48 because he’s the number one center the Canadiens have been looking for for years, adding that his chemistry with Cole Caufield and Slafkovsky is sublime. The magazine also praises the playmaker because he has racked up five 20-goal seasons in a row.
I find this ranking highly debatable. This season, Suzuki put up 101 points, a career mark, which was good for sixth overall in league scoring. That’s 20 more points than Tage Thompson, who lands in 32nd place after putting up 81 points in 81 games. Granted, offensive production shouldn’t be the only criterion to make the Top-100 ranking, and that’s exactly why Suzuki should be higher on the list.
All season long, he has had the toughest matchup, being pitted against the opponent’s top line more often than not and yet, on top of producing a career year offensively, he has earned a Selke Trophy nomination as the top defensive forward. Rumblings around the league are that he will likely win the trophy as well.
Since he was given the C in Montreal, becoming the youngest captain in Canadiens history, Suzuki has led by example on and off the ice. He’s put the team on his back in 2025-26, almost taking it single-handedly to the playoffs. For an encore, he was selected to represent Canada at the Olympics and was highly praised by coach Jon Cooper on the international stage before returning to lead the Habs to the playoffs.
While he might not have been all that productive at even strength in the playoffs, he’s still third in scoring with 16 points in 18 games. Granted, the list was published before he led Montreal through two playoff rounds and eliminated both the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Buffalo Sabres, but that just goes to show how good a player he has become.
The fact that he’s the third-best Canadiens player on the list is surprising. One could argue that Suzuki is the glue that holds this Habs’ team together, and while journalists from other markets are starting to take notice of what he accomplishes since the Olympics, he’s still grossly underestimated. He can attack, he can defend, he can do anything the coach wants him to do, and having such a Swiss army knife kind of player on your roster is any coach’s dream.
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