{"id":942743,"date":"2026-10-23T01:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T01:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/942743\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T01:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T01:28:07","slug":"canadiens-facing-significant-adversity-in-suzukis-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/942743\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadiens facing significant adversity in Suzuki’s absence"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2014 Nick Suzuki<\/a> will miss the next two-to-four weeks with an upper-body injury, the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> announced before departing for Chicago on Thursday.<\/p>\n

This is adversity. The kind this team hasn\u2019t faced since the onset of their rebuild four-and-a-half years ago and the kind they need least right now at 4-3-2, sitting in sixth place in the Atlantic Division and 20th\u00a0in the National Hockey League.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s here now, and how the Canadiens handle it could very well determine their fate this season.<\/p>\n

If that seems hyperbolic, consider what Suzuki means to them.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s their captain, their most complete player, their current leading scorer and, without question, their least replaceable player, so when Juraj Slafkovsky called Suzuki \u201cone of the biggest parts of this team,\u201d just moments after the injury news broke, he was understating it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge loss; nobody can really fill Suzy\u2019s shoes,\u201d Cole Caufield told reporters at the team\u2019s practice facility just hours before the team departed for a four-game road trip that begins against the Blackhawks Friday, because he knows it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a jarring reality for Caufield and his teammates to face knowing they\u2019ve been fortunate to have had Suzuki available to them for every game he\u2019s been eligible to play since he stepped into the league for his first one in 2019.<\/p>\n

But now Suzuki\u2019s 546-game ironman streak, which was the second-longest one in in the NHL behind Colorado\u2019s Brent Burns (1017), is over.<\/p>\n

It was under threat from the second he blocked Michael Kesselring\u2019s shot with the back of his left hand, even if he somehow didn\u2019t miss a shift after that happened in the 15th\u00a0minute of the third period in Tuesday\u2019s 4-3 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks.<\/p>\n

But now the 27-year-old will officially miss the next seven games, and that\u2019s if he\u2019s fortunate enough to only be out two weeks.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens could be without Suzuki for as many as 14 games if he needs the full month to recover, and that could feel like an eternity to them if they struggle in his absence.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re at serious risk to do exactly that, with top-six winger Ivan Demidov also still sidelined by a lower-body injury \u2014 and with Oliver Kapanen stepping into Suzuki\u2019s slot less than one week after returning from a knee injury that kept him out of action through the first 18 days of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really good now,\u201d Kapanen said.<\/p>\n

He could feel his very best, but he\u2019d still be challenged stepping in for Suzuki as the first-line centre when he hasn\u2019t yet nailed down a role as second-line centre \u2014 despite reasonable success from that chair last season \u2014 and has been playing fourth-line wing.<\/p>\n

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Still, this presents opportunity to both Kapanen and the Canadiens, and their ability to seize it would be just as determinant for their season as a collapse in Suzuki\u2019s absence would be.<\/p>\n

Coach Martin St. Louis believes they can step up.<\/p>\n

He said Kapanen, who had 22 goals and 37 points as a rookie, should feel at home with talented players like Slafkovsky and Caufield \u2014 especially after playing between Slafkovsky and Demidov for more than half of last season \u2014 and he talked about how the Canadiens can band together to overcome this challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust fall back on the collective game,\u201d St. Louis said. \u201cWe\u2019re just going to keep going. It\u2019s a big piece, but we\u2019ll be ready\u2026 And we\u2019re always going to fall back on our collective game.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been strong for the Canadiens, despite their record. Particularly at five-on-five, where they rank fifth in the NHL in shot attempt percentage and ninth in expected goals.<\/p>\n

There should be a natural dropoff in Suzuki\u2019s absence in both categories, but not so much of one that the Canadiens shouldn\u2019t be able to sustain a high level of play.<\/p>\n

Still, they\u2019ll miss Suzuki in key moments. They\u2019ll miss him on the power play, on which he produced 43 of his 101 points last season. They\u2019ll miss him on the defensive side of the puck, where he excels as the reigning Selke Trophy winner.<\/p>\n

And the Canadiens will have to figure out how to manage their room without him right now.<\/p>\n

St. Louis believes that\u2019s the least of their challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Suzy\u2019s our captain, but we have a lot of leaders,\u201d he said. \u201cOur culture will help us come through this. For sure, you lose a huge piece, but I think we\u2019ll be able to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019re already barely keeping pace in the NHL\u2019s most competitive division and falling further behind could prove disastrous.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a test the Canadiens don\u2019t currently need.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we can\u2019t do anything about it,\u201d said Slafkovsky. \u201cJust gotta wait (for Suzuki\u2019s return) and fight for him. Just be ready for the game, be ready to play hard and win games when he\u2019s not playing so when he comes back, we\u2019re in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 Nick Suzuki will miss the next two-to-four weeks with an upper-body injury, the Montreal Canadiens announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":942744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-942743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}