Hockey

Olympics: Nick Suzuki must beat the guys who went to the World Championships
Marc-Olivier Cook
Olympics: Nick Suzuki must beat the guys who went to the World Championships
Credit: Getty Images

Will Nick Suzuki have a place in Canada's line-up for the next Olympics? This will definitely be one of the questions on everyone's lips in Montreal over the next few weeks. The Canadiens' captain will have to start the season strong to show management that he deserves a spot, and he'll have to prove that he can help Team Canada on the ice with his skills. But it goes further than that, too.

Suzuki won't just have to be “good” to earn his spot: he'll also have to be better than some of the guys who have made it to the World Championship in recent years: Adam Fantilli (2023 and 2025), Brandon Hagel (2024), John Tavares (2024), Brayden Schenn (2025), Bo Horvat (2025), Ryan O'Reilly (2025), Macklin Celebrini (2025), Travis Konecny (2025)… Canada's officials know these players because they have played at the World Championship in recent years, while Suzuki has never accepted Canada's invitation to take part in the World Championship…

suzuki, if you look at all these guys and how good this team is going to be, he's not only going to have to play well… but he's going to have to beat some guys who might get the benefit of the doubt because they were available for the World Championship.

–

Elliotte Friedman

The ball is in Suzuki's court. The Canadiens' captain – under center Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield – will have the tools to produce offensively quickly at the start of the season. He's also likely to play with the likes of Patrik Laine, Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov on the powerplay… which may help him pick up even more points. But where Suzuki will really be judged by Canada's leaders is when we see him go up against other excellent center players.

If he can dominate against the best opposing trios and the best players in the National League, he could force the executives to select him… because we know he can be moved to the wing if need be too. All this to say that he'll have a lot on his plate, #14.But he's also proved to us since his arrival in Montreal that he's even better when it counts. He's going to start the season hungry because he knows there's a spot on Canada's roster up for grabs.I'm curious to see how it all pans out.

'Overtime'

– Oh.

– Possible.

– I love it!

– Oops…

– Yes.

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