Disappointing and surprising statement about Nick Suzuki from a former NHL head coach

Published February 1, 2023 at 9:55
BY MARCO

In the last few days, there has been a lot of debate about the Montreal Canadiens' captain, Nick Suzuki, which we find very difficult to understand.

Some even believe that he is not a number one center in the NHL, others compare him to Kirby Dach, in short, it is quite difficult to understand.

Yes, Suzuki had a rough time, but all good players have bad times.

Talk about Mika Zibanejad, who had a really bad start to the 2020-21 season (6 points in his first 21 games)


Yet he is considered one of the best first line centers in the NHL, he is headed for an 85 point season this year, and in 2020-21 he had finished with 50 points in 56 games.

Bad streaks, every player (or almost every player) has them.

In short, if Nick Suzuki doesn't worry us for a second on the offensive side of the ball, we just heard a really surprising and disappointing statement about his defensive game.

This is coming from a true connoisseur:

"Guy Boucher, he says Suzuki has been bad defensively for a long time and (he mentions how vastly superior) Dach is these days. He also mentions how destructive and disheartening it can be to start at 18 in the NHL (as Dach did in Chicago and as Juraj Slafkovsky did this season in Montreal)"

Most fans and observers take for granted that Nick Suzuki is very solid defensively, but Boucher disagrees.

"It hasn't just been a few weeks, it's been a long time that it hasn't been going well (for Nick Suzuki). [...] Right now, Kirby Dach is much better than Nick Suzuki defensively right now, no question.

Suzuki is supposed to be good defensively, but he's not, hasn't been for a long time. He's got the skills to be that, but there's a lot of development to do for Suzuki.

I know people were throwing tomatoes at me when I said Suzuki wasn't a number one center in the NHL yet, but look, we see it here. [...] "

- Guy Boucher

A sequence that is causing a lot of reaction right now. Listen to Boucher's very interesting analysis in full:


You have to understand that, as Guy Boucher says, it's a normal process and you shouldn't want to go too fast with these youngsters.
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February 1   |   265 answers
Disappointing and surprising statement about Nick Suzuki from a former NHL head coach

Who will have a better career?

Dach8732.8 %
Suzuki17867.2 %
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