One of the longest iron man streaks in league history has met an unfortunate end, as Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki will be out 2-4 weeks with an upper-body injury, the team announced. Owen Beck has been recalled from AHL Laval as a result.
Montreal won’t have #14 in the lineup for the first time since Game 82 of the 2018-19 season, a win over Toronto where Andrew Shaw recorded two points, serving as an indication of just how long it has been. Having yet to miss a single appearance now in year eight, Suzuki’s 546-game streak will close out at 20th all time in NHL history and the second-longest out of active players behind Brent Burns’ 1,017.
In their last contest, an overtime defeat at the hands of the Sharks, the center led all forwards with 21:03 of ice time. It’s not entirely clear when the injury occurred, although before the news even dropped Eric Engels of Sportsnet pointed out that the 2026 Selke winner took a shot to the hand in the San Jose game and had to receive treatment post-game.
A star who obviously requires a lot to be out of the lineup, one can assume from that report that a relatively serious hand injury occurred.
Breaking out last season with 101 points as a bonafide superstar, the 27-year-old has continued that pace into this season with 12 points in nine games. Few can impact the game in as many areas as he can, leading both the power play and penalty kill, logging heavy minutes at 21:47, fifth most in the NHL out of forwards.
With high expectations, his Habs have come out of the gate a bit slower than hoped with a 4-3-2 record. The group has struggled to keep the puck out of the net, allowing the ninth most goals at this point.
As they move ahead without him, the Canadiens offer a solid group of two-way pivots, but none of them offer the ability to even adequately replace Suzuki for any extended timeframe. The exciting roster already has a hole at 2C, that issue will only be compounded in the weeks ahead.
Head coach Martin St. Louis will have another day to sort things out, next in action tomorrow night in Chicago, but they’ll be looking at Alex Newhook and Philip Danault in elevated roles, the duo combining for six points in 18 games so far.
Coming in to help down the middle is Beck who already has been summoned 10 days ago, getting into two games with the big club and coming away scoreless. A well-regarded 22-year-old with bottom-six potential, however, it goes without saying that their leading scorer Suzuki will be sorely missed.
The youngster averaged just 7:23 in his action so far and did not line up for a faceoff. Having major success in that area last season with a win percentage just shy of 59% in his 75 attempts, there’s no better time for Beck to step up.
The 2022 second-round selection hasn’t yet had a real shot as a result of the trusty defensive veteran pivots ahead of him.
Expected to be out until some time in November, perhaps 8-10 absences until an away game in Boston on the 12th which is exactly three weeks away today, it’s not like Montreal has to consider making a panic move. Still, it’s quite the wrench thrown into a period where the group needs to string some wins together and find their stride.
With just $2.25MM in cap space, they’d love to somehow get their hands on Dylan Larkin, but even if not a player of that caliber, one has to wonder if an extended slump without Suzuki could force general manager Kent Hughes’ hand to go out and get top-six center help in a move which feels inevitable anyway.