Nick Suzuki was named the 31st captain of the Montreal Canadiens on Monday.
The 23-year-old center is the youngest captain in Canadiens history; Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Sylvio Mantha was named captain at age 24 to begin the 1926-27 season. Suzuki is entering the first season of an eight-year, $63 million contract extension he agreed to Oct. 12, 2021, and had an NHL career high 61 points (21 goals, 40 assists) in 82 games last season.
“He’s the heartbeat of our team,” Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher said.
Suzuki replaces Shea Weber, a defenseman traded to the Vegas Golden Knights for forward Evgenii Dadonov on June 16. Weber had been Canadiens captain since Oct. 1, 2018, did not play last season and it’s possible his career his over. The 37-year-old has five seasons remaining on a 14-year contract he signed with the Nashville Predators, who matched an offer sheet he was given by the Philadelphia Flyers prior to the 2012-13 season. It has an annual NHL salary cap charge of $7.85 million.
Chosen by the Golden Knights with the No. 13 pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, Suzuki was traded to the Canadiens with forward Tomas Tatar and a second-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft for forward Max Pacioretty on Sept. 10, 2018. His streak of 209 consecutive games played is tied with Calgary Flames forward Elias Lindholm for the sixth longest active streak in the NHL. He has 143 points (49 goals, 94 assists) in 209 regular-season games and 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) in 32 Stanley Cup Playoff games. Suzuki’s 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 22 postseason games helped Montreal reach the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, a five-game loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Canadiens (22-49-11) were last in the NHL in 2021-22, ranking at or near the bottom of the NHL in each major category — goals (218, 27th), goals against (317, 32nd), power play (13.7 percent, 31st) and penalty kill (75.6 percent, 27th).
Martin St. Louis agreed to a three-year contract June 1 to remain Canadiens coach. Montreal went 14-19-4 under St. Louis, who replaced Dominique Ducharme on Feb. 9 after the Canadiens won eight of their first 45 games (8-30-7).
You must be logged in to post a comment.