Before I head to bed for the night, #Habs friends (I wasn't kidding when I said 3 a.m. was my bedtime; if anything, I was ignoring that it's often 3:30): a word about Suzuki.
I've seen people wondering what's wrong with him, questioning whether he's hiding an injury...
I've seen people wondering what's wrong with him, questioning whether he's hiding an injury...
...and so on. He's not being dominant, so they say.
I can see what they're saying, but I'd be surprised if injury or anything else was going on. He was slipped into the 1C role before Julien was fired, and has quietly handled top line minutes, matchups, pressures...
I can see what they're saying, but I'd be surprised if injury or anything else was going on. He was slipped into the 1C role before Julien was fired, and has quietly handled top line minutes, matchups, pressures...
...and responsibilities with no visible sign except the slight fall-off in the brilliance we've come to expect from him. And while many kids playing on outdoor rinks may dream of being top line center of a team like the Canadiens at the age of 21, the reality of...
...just how enormous such a role is escapes them, as it does most of us.
He's handling the role well. He's continued to accumulate points and create offensive chances, and his defensive game has necessarily had to be up to the task of shutting down strong opponents...
He's handling the role well. He's continued to accumulate points and create offensive chances, and his defensive game has necessarily had to be up to the task of shutting down strong opponents...
...on every team. There are signs that his brilliant plays are starting to show again. I'd be surprised if it took more than a handful more games under Ducharme for some pretty breathtaking stuff to appear.
One thing that will help him a great deal will be for...
One thing that will help him a great deal will be for...
...his younger teammate, Kotkaniemi, to settle into the 2C role, because we saw tonight that KK belongs there. The two of them, if you'll excuse the lapse into poetry, are like fire and ice in the game: Suzuki with his calculated and "chill" strategizing, and KK...
...with the fiery temperament that can see him go to the box for a boarding penalty yet earn a goal and an assist in the same game. The more KK can help his line earn points, the more Suzuki can relax and focus on the skills he needs to improve (such as faceoffs)...
...and on growing his game at both ends of the ice without quite so much pressure to be "the guy" who drives all or most of the scoring. The two of them are showing more and more each day that they are, in fact, the Habs one-two punch at center, and though it may...
...take a few years to know for certain which of them will be which, the fact that they are both already part of the team and both rising to the challenges they've been given is tremendously good for the Montreal Canadiens.
Suzuki will pick up the pace; there's no reason...
Suzuki will pick up the pace; there's no reason...
...to think otherwise. The team is coming together in ways that are astonishing when you consider what things looked like last year at this time, when Suzuki was a promising rookie and KK was home in Finland recovering from a spleen injury he suffered while playing in Laval.
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