The injury to Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki could not have come at a worse time. Not only is the team off to a rather underwhelming start to the season, but there are few situations in which Suzuki is not a crucial cog in the wheel.
In addition to driving the Canadiens’ offence, he is the reigning Selke Trophy winner as the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game. In other words, while many forwards are loosely described as 200-foot players, Suzuki truly epitomizes the term. He is the busiest forward on the team by a wide margin, regularly skating on the first line, the power play, and the penalty kill.
His dedication is part of the reason he is set to miss two to four weeks with an upper-body injury: the issue arose when he attempted to block a shot late in the third period of Tuesday night’s game against the San Jose Sharks.
Habs captain Nick Suzuki appeared to be favouring his hand after blocking a shot on Tuesday night. The Habs announced today that Suzuki will miss 2-to-4 weeks with an upper body injury. https://t.co/Ye91i8CqAd
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 22, 2026
It was yet another self-inflicted wound, both literally and figuratively, as the Canadiens displayed a shocking lack of discipline against the Sharks. That lack of discipline produced a game-tying goal that swung the momentum firmly in San Jose’s favour, forcing Suzuki and company to spend a significant portion of the third period defending their own zone.
Now, the Canadiens must prepare for a game without Suzuki in the lineup for the first time since he entered the league, ending his 546-game iron-man streak in the process.
On the other hand, this absence will reveal just how far the team can go without Suzuki doing most of the heavy lifting in the offensive zone. In the long run, if the Habs are to become legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, they will have to rely on more than just Suzuki, who generally elevates both Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky.
That’s not to say Suzuki is the only excellent player in the lineup.
That is not to say Suzuki is the only excellent player in the lineup. But if the Canadiens were a car, he would be the high-powered engine, while players like Caufield, Slafkovsky, and Lane Hutson would serve as the transmission, the wheels, and the fuel. And if the Canadiens are to avoid a Flintstones, several players will have to step up, as replacing Suzuki is clearly a by-committee effort.
Moving Forward
The lines at practice on Friday revealed just how dependent the Habs are on Suzuki to paper over their lack of depth down the middle. They also serve as a clear reminder of why the Canadiens have spent the past two seasons trying to acquire a bona fide No. 2 centre.
If the upcoming stretch of games without Suzuki ends in disaster, the pressure on Kent Hughes to finally solve that problem will be difficult to ignore.
Oliver Kapanen, a second-year player who has appeared in just two games this season while recovering from his own injury, was slotted between Caufield and Slafkovsky on the top line. Kapanen has posted rather poor underlying numbers since joining the Canadiens and has never regularly faced opposing teams’ top players, making this a potentially turbulent combination, to say the least.
The good news is that the second line offers a measure of stability. The combination of Chris Kreider, Alex Newhook, and Josh Anderson has produced fairly encouraging results in both goal scoring and underlying numbers.
Regardless, the Habs will be forced to ice a lineup in which neither of their top two centres was originally trusted to anchor even the second line, the very reason the team has been searching for an upgrade in the first place.
Canadiens Lines At Practice Without Suzuki
Cole Caufield – Oliver Kapanen – Juraj Slafkovsky
Chris Kreider – Alex Newhook – Josh Anderson
Zachary Bolduc – Phillip Danault – Alexandre Texier
Kirby Dach – Jake Evans – F. Xhekaj/ O. Beck
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