The Canadiens players who can celebrate in this difficult season are not that numerous, but Nick Suzuki is part of this very select group.
By passing his 29e goal, Tuesday evening in Denver against the Avalanche, the young captain of the Canadian obtained his 67 at the same timee point of the season. This is not a trivial detail: this is his best season in five years in the National League, one point more than his harvest of 66 points in 2022-2023. Above all, this is a mark that he can aim to beat, since he still has 11 games left in this season.
In the context of a Canadian rebuilding, in particular, Suzuki’s feat reminds us how much this team has not been spoiled with points of this kind in recent seasons.
The last to reach the 70-point mark in Montreal is Max Domi, who obtained 72 points during the 2018-2019 season, while Suzuki completed his days as a junior player in Guelph, Ontario. If Suzuki ever wants to aim even higher and reach the 80 points mark, it will have to think of Alex Kovalev, the last one to have been able to achieve this magic trick in Montreal, with a harvest of 84 points in 2007-2008.
The successes of the Canadian forward do not go unnoticed. Little by little, people are whispering that his name could be put forward during Team Canada’s preparations for the 2026 Winter Games in Italy. To this end, we should not be surprised if Suzuki were to soon receive another invitation from the Canadian team for the next World Hockey Championships, presented in the Czech Republic in May. He said no to such a proposal a year ago.
Then his name will undoubtedly be in the discussion during the next race for the Selke Trophy. Patrice Bergeron, the monarch of defensive forwards, is retired, which opens the door to new candidates, and Suzuki’s points total will undoubtedly attract some votes from journalists in this annual poll. It’s certainly nothing scientific, but his name appears in this category on certain specialized sports betting sites. If the big thinkers in Las Vegas know about it, that must mean something.
While waiting for the consecrations and the invitations, there is the rest of the season, which will continue Thursday evening with a visit from the Philadelphia Flyers to the Bell Center. Suzuki has eight points in his last ten games, and if he maintains a similar pace between now and the Canadiens’ final game of the season on April 16, he could finish this campaign with a total of around 75 points.
Meanwhile, the Washington Capitals are in the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference, and a certain Max Pacioretty has just given them three points in the last five games. This is the same player who had previously fallen out with the general manager of the Canadiens at the time, Marc Bergevin, to the point of demanding a trade.
This wish was finally granted to him in September 2018, when the Vegas Golden Knights finally raised their hand, while agreeing to give up in return to the Canadian a veteran, a second-round pick, and a hope that could not be Cody Glass.
In the end, the Canadian got a prospect who isn’t Glass, and this prospect is becoming the first center the team has been looking for in a long time.