Montreal Canadiens: Nick Suzuki SZN is here to stay in Habs nation
The Montreal Canadiens have a good one in Nick Suzuki.
When the Vegas Golden Knights selected Nick Suzuki with the 13th overall pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, it wasn’t because he’s an old-school, throwback power forward.
Even by modern NHL standards, Suzuki is on the smaller side, measuring in at 5-foot-11, 183 pounds, and at 21 years old, there’s only so much time left to hold out hope for a bottom-of-the-ninth growth spurt. As a rookie, Suzuki spent all of six minutes in the penalty box, and assuming he doesn’t suddenly transform himself into a formidable fighter via a Karate Kid-style montage glowup, that too will probably never be an aspect of his game that some fans desperately wish would make more of a comeback at the NHL-level.
However, what Suzuki does bring to the table is a speedy, savvy style of play tailormade for the NHL in 2021 and beyond.
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That’s precisely why the Montreal Canadiens traded Max Pacioretty, the team’s longstanding captain, to the Golden Knights for Suzuki in a package that also included Tomas Tatar and a 2019 second-round draft pick; to turn an aging veteran wasting away the twilight of his prime in exchange for a crack at a crafty puck distributor with number one center upside.
And so far, the move has worked out very well for the Habs.
Though Suzuki spent the entirety of the 2018-19 season playing in the OHL, playing for both the Owen Sound Attack and the Guelph Storm – his second tenure in the NHL – he finally worked his way to the Canadiens’ main roster for the 2019-20 season – where he recorded 13 goals and 28 assists splitting time between the Habs’ first, second, and third-line center spot.
Suzuki is a smart playmaker with one eye always on the goal and the other always looking for a peripheral pass to get a teammate like Tatar or Brendan Gallagher an open shot on goal. As our friends over at Sportsnet pined in their ‘Over/Under Montreal Canadiens Edition’ video, it’s entirely possible Suzuki could become a point a game performer as soon as this season; giving the Habs their first point a game performer since Alex Kovalev all the way back in 2007-08.
Now I probably wouldn’t go that far this season, as that’d be a pretty insane clip for a second-year center to fire on during an abbreviated season, but it’s pretty safe to say Suzuki season is officially here.
Even if Phillip Danault starts out the 2020-21 season on Claude Julien’s second line, it’s clear this is Suzuki’s team moving forward and barring injury, illness, or a near-unforeseeable regression from the norms he established as a rookie, that changing of the guard could come as soon as the 2021 All-Star break. Heck, one could even suggest that Suzuki’s pension for playmaking could be the key to optimizing trade acquisition Josh Anderson – the soon-to-be seventh-year wing acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets for Max Domi and a third-round pick – a move that would do leaps and bounds for the Habs’ playoff chances in a loaded 2021 Canadian Division.
Who knows, we may even get to see Suzuki paired up with the Canadiens’ other young, former first-round pick center, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, on power plays – a look that could be incredibly effective if the former’s playmaking can open up quality shots for the left-handed former third overall pick.
See what I mean? A big season from Suzuki not only guarantees the Habs a bright future but opens up oh so many options in the short-term to elevate the team’s overall play considerably.
Next. Don’t underestimate a motivated Mikael Granlund. dark
Las Vegas isn’t a city known for playing it safe, so why would its professional hockey team be anything but a bastion for blockbuster trades? While the addition of Max Pacioretty has certainly helped the Golden Knights remain among the favorites to win the Pacific Division since he touched down in Sin City in 2018 – as his 54 goals leads all Vegas players over that timeframe – surrendering a legitimate number one center, a solid 20-goal scoring left-wing, and the draft rights to Jacob LeGuerrier and Mattias Norlinder is rich. Assuming Nick Suzuki reaches his full potential and becomes the Montreal Canadiens’ featured player for the foreseeable future, this one undoubtedly goes down as an all-time win for the Habs.