Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki admits it’s a little weird having a photo of his former teammate and captain Shea Weber looking down at him now from the wall of the team’s locker rooms at the Bell Centre and at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard.
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Weber’s photo was put up in the locker rooms after he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Nov. 11.
“It looks good up there and we’ll probably see Carey’s soon,” Suzuki said after the Canadiens practised Thursday morning in Brossard, noting that Carey Price will probably join Weber in the Hall of Fame next year when he becomes eligible for induction. “It’s pretty cool that you have guys that you played with and now you get to see them in the Hall of Fame, which is pretty special.”
Suzuki and Weber were teammates for two seasons before the new Hall of Famer’s career came to an end because of injuries after the Canadiens advanced to the 2021 Stanley Cup final before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Suzuki looked up to Weber and now Weber is looking down on Suzuki in the locker room.
What’s the best advice Weber gave Suzuki when they were teammates?
“Just little things,” said Suzuki, who became the youngest captain in Canadiens history at age 23 when he was given the “C” before the start of the 2022-23 season. “Probably the biggest thing was me sitting over here watching him every day, how he handles himself. It’s nothing that really he said. I got to learn a ton off him just watching him every day of how he handles things and interacts with people in the rink.”
Suzuki and several of Weber’s old Canadiens teammates — including Price, Brendan Gallagher, Cole Caufield, Joel Armia, Jake Evans, Josh Anderson, Jeff Petry, Ben Chiarot, Paul Byron and Karl Alzner — made the trip to Toronto for his induction ceremony. Suzuki was also able to have dinner with Weber and Anderson last Friday in Montreal before the former Canadiens captain was honoured the next night at the Bell Centre.
“It felt like he was still my teammate,” Suzuki said. “It was nice to hang out with him. I got to see him a little bit in Toronto at the ceremony, but not too much one-on-one time. So it was nice to have dinner with him.”
During the dinner, Weber made it clear to Suzuki he could call him any time he wants if he needs to talk. Weber knows what it’s like to be a young captain since he was given that role with the Nashville Predators a month shy of his 25th birthday. He was captain of the Predators for six years and won the NHL’s Mark Messier Leadership Award in 2016, shortly before being traded to the Canadiens in exchange for P.K. Subban.
“I said don’t be afraid to call or reach out,” Weber said when he met with the media last Saturday at the Bell Centre. “No pressure. Don’t feel like you have to. But I’m just here to listen, even if you want to vent for a half hour, you can just spit things at me.”
Weber remembers feeling awkward at first as a young captain when talking to an older teammate who might be 10 years older with three kids. But he grew into the role, just like Suzuki is doing now. He leads the Canadiens in scoring with 7-12-19 totals in 19 games.
“Probably the biggest thing I do is try to lead by example,” Suzuki said. “Day-to-day, during the games, in practice, just set the tone for intensity in the way I play. That’s how I’ve always tried to play and I think that’s my best leadership quality.”
Despite having a 7-10-2 record and sitting in last place in the Atlantic Division, the Canadiens were only three points out of a wild-card playoff spot following Wednesday’s games. They will be looking to extend their winning streak to three games when the Vegas Golden Knights visit the Bell Centre Saturday (7 p.m., SNE, Citytv, TVA Sports). The Canadiens had only one three-game winning streak last season and it came in late March.
“I think we’ve learned a lot about ourselves,” Suzuki said with the Canadiens about to reach the quarter-mark of the season. “Been through a lot together over kind of a short period of time. The low that we went through has helped us move forward and we’ve gotten better from it. I think we’re in a pretty good spot right now playing really good hockey and just want to keep that going. … It’s exciting. There’s a lot of us in our division that are within two points of each other.”
As the season moves on, Suzuki said he won’t hesitate to pick up the phone and call Weber if needed.
“I’ll definitely take advantage of it,” he said about Weber’s offer. “He’s been through everything as a player and it’s definitely a really easy call to make and he’s always there for me.”