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In Hainsight: What to Expect from Nick Suzuki |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
Last season, the Canadiens newly minted captain had a lot to do, continue getting acclimated to being the team’s top pivot and coming to grips with the monumental task of wearing the C on his jersey. Suzuki proved he could do both easily and quickly dissipated any doubts about his readiness to take over from Shea Weber. The 23-year-old had a career year in which he saw over 21 minutes of time on ice on average.
In a year in which the Canadiens were truly decimated by injuries, Suzuki was the only player to feature in each game of his team. Even though he lost his partner in crime Cole Caufield for the rest of the season in January and there was a bit of a turnstile on his wings, he managed to rack up 66 points in 82 games, improving his personal best by 5 points.
His point per game total has been improving steadily over his four seasons in the NHL and last year, it stood at 0.80. Perhaps, I’m a bit too optimistic, but I see Suzuki becoming a point per game player as soon as this season. In the last quarter of the 2022-2023 season, the Canadiens top center was saddled with the likes of Mike Hoffman, Joel Armia, Jesse Ylonen and Rafael Harvey-Pinard. In the third quarter, Rem Pilick and Denis Gurianov were also given a go.
No offense to those players, but if Suzuki can play all year with real top-6 players, his production should see a big bump.
If Cole Caufield reaches 40 goals this season, the captain is highly likely to get an assist on the vast majority of them. Furthermore, the Canadiens are hoping to energize their power play with the arrival of Alex Newhooks who has got the skills and creativity to boost up the Habs’ anemic man advantage and that too could play in the captain’s favor.
Last season, Suzuki scored 26 goals taking an average of 1.98 shots per game. It would be wise for him to take more shots on net, he’s got a quick incisive wrister and we’ve often seen him score from the offensive face-off circle when in unleashed his shot in a flash. Over the course of 82 games, he took just 162 shots, down from 186 in the same number of games the year before.
The one certainty I have about this line-up is that if both Caufield and Suzuki are healthy, they’ll once again be a dynamic duo. Who’s likely to complete their line? That’s the $100 bucks’ question. Josh Anderson has had success had times with them, but he lacks consistency and his production is erratic at best. With Dvorak being injured to start off the year, Dach and Monahan are likely to be used in the middle. Furthermore, Kent Hughes has repeatedly said that long-term, he sees Dach as a center long-term. As for newcomer Alex Newhook, I expect him to start the season on the wing the get to grips with Marty St-Louis’ concepts, but I doubt he will be parachuted on the top line.
Perhaps St-Louis could be tempted to see if Rafael Harvey-Pinard who got 20 points in 34 games in the tail end of the season could be an option on the top line’s wing. He did look pretty good when he was placed there, but that was without Caufield being there. It wouldn’t be a very big first line, but it would be a very quick one. I’m not saying it will happen, but I’d like to see what could come out of that.
In short, I expect Nick Suzuki to keep on growing experience, skills, and production wise. Each season so far, he’s been a treat to watch, and I don’t expect this season to be any different. What about you? Think the captain has got what it takes to become a point-per-game player?
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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