Nick Suzuki faces a tough challenge heading into his third season as captain of the Canadiens.
Management made it clear at Monday’s annual team golf tournament at Laval-sur-le-Lac it doesn’t want expectations to be too high heading into the third full season of a rebuild. Team owner and president Geoff Molson, executive vice-president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes would only go so far as to say they want to be “in the mix” when it comes to battling for a playoff spot.
Suzuki wants to be in the playoffs — and so do his teammates.
So, how does the 25-year-old captain keep the players focused on that goal while also supporting management’s patience with its main focus still on player development?
“I know they’ve been saying that a lot recently,” Suzuki said about the “in the mix” catchphrase. “For us, it just means battling for a playoff spot right to the very end. As players, we want to make the playoffs this year and get back where we used to be. It’s up to us to get those wins and get those points and put ourselves in position to make the playoffs at the end of the regular season.”
While most of the young players on the Canadiens don’t know what it’s like to be in the playoffs, Suzuki was with the Canadiens when they went to the Stanley Cup final in 2021 before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“When we made a run to the final, no one saw that coming,” Suzuki said. “We just believed in ourselves as a group, and that’s really what it takes in this league. To have that belief in each other and belief in what you’re doing is going to win you games. I think we have that in our room.
“I think we have a ton of elements,” Suzuki added. “I think our forward group is super deep from top to bottom. I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people in that way, and we’ve got a lot of young D that are going to make big strides. With Math (Mike Matheson) and Savy (David Savard) doing their thing, there’s a lot of optimism in the group and in the dressing room. We’re in a really good position right now and really excited to get the season going.”
I believed Suzuki was the right choice for captain when the announcement was made at the Canadiens’ golf tournament two years ago, making him the youngest captain in franchise history at age 23. He has grown nicely into that role since the “C” was put on his sweater for the first time that day.
“Suzy is very mature,” veteran teammate Brendan Gallagher said after Suzuki was named captain. “He’s a young player, but he’s very mature and the most important thing is he has the respect of every single guy in that locker room and he’s the heartbeat of our team.”
Suzuki leads by example on and off the ice and is a quiet leader. So was former Canadiens captain Bob Gainey, who didn’t speak up often in the locker room, but when he did his teammates were all ears.
Suzuki is still finding his voice as captain.
When asked Monday how he has grown most as a leader over the last two years, Suzuki said: “Probably just my comfortability speaking to the guys away from the rink, at the rink, being a leader vocally. I was pretty young when I got named captain and I’m still young and learning. It’s just getting easier each and every year, gaining the respect. It’s been pretty easy so far and I’m excited for another year of it and getting better in the role.”
Suzuki’s challenge this season will be to find a balance between his message of definitely wanting to make the playoffs and the message from management of remaining patient and not setting expectations too high.
“I’m a competitive guy,” Suzuki said. “I don’t want to be sellers at the (trade) deadline. It’s been tough to be in that position the last couple of years. You want to win as many games as possible, but management might see it a different way and try to make moves for the team for the future. For us players, it’s about focusing on the present. You can’t really control what’s going to happen and what their mindset is. So just take it day by day and win as many games as possible.
“I know they don’t want to set high expectations,” Suzuki added about management. “Their job is to stay kind of even keel and see what happens with the team. But for us, all the players want to be in that position and all the coaches want to be in that position. So it’s our job to go out there and do it, and I think we got the team to do that.”