Nick Suzuki continuing to be a future star for the Montreal Canadiens

Nick Suzuki may end up being the greatest gift for the Montreal Canadiens, and his play in the OHL playoffs is all the proof needed of his talents.

When was the last time the CHL playoffs have been this fun for the Montreal Canadiens? Joël Teasdale is having his fun in the QMJHL with the Huskies and is heading off to the Memorial Cup and Cole Fonstad is doing his part in the WHL for the Prince Albert Raiders, but all the fans and media can talk about is Nick Suzuki. Not to disrespect the other two young members of the Habs organization, but what Suzuki has been doing as of late is incredible.

His latest antics came during Game 4 of the Guelph Storm series against the Ottawa 67’s. The team responded well after dropping games 1 and 2 and fortunately came back to tie up the series.

Suzuki started off his night with a secondary assist on Nate Schnarr’s powerplay goal to tie the game up at one. He added another helper, this time being a primary one, on Liam Hawel’s tally to put the Storm up by one. What took Habs social media by storm was Suzuki’s goal (his 15th of the playoffs to be exact).

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The chemistry between Suzuki and winger Issac Ratcliffe has been on display since the trade brought the Habs prospect to Guelph. Suzuki is usually the playmaker and puck distributor on the line, but Ratcliffe took the role for the moment taking advantage of a poor example of defensive play from the 67’s.

Suzuki picked off a turnover in the neutral zone finding Ratcliffe entering the zone along the left wall. Four Ottawa players hang off to the left side leaving the right completely open for Suzuki to pick up the cross-ice pass from Ratcliffe. There was someone there to invade his shot attempt initially a few strides from the right faceoff circle, but Suzuki cleanly evades Marco Rossi with a toe drag then going top shelf over the glove of Cedrik Andree.

Guelph gets the win, and Suzuki finishes as the games first star of the night. With three points, the 2017 first-round pick increased his playoff total to 15 goals and 23 assists for 38 points in 22 games. There is a nine-point difference between Suzuki at the top of the OHL and Sasha Chmelevski who is second with 29 points.

It’s ridiculous how easy Suzuki is making it look which is a great sign for the Montreal Canadiens. Why? Because when a player makes a league look simple to the point where they dominate the play every time they step on the ice, it’s a great indication of the fact that they’re ready to move on to the next level. Whether that’s the AHL with the Laval Rocket or NHL with the Habs. But there’s more hockey to be played for Suzuki and the Storm.

The accolades get even better when you look at Suzuki’s production throughout OHL history. With 38 points, he overtook Martin St. Pierre for most playoff points in a single season.

St. Pierre had 35 playoff points in the 2004 run with the Guelph Storm. The team went on to win the OHL championship that year where St. Pierre won the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award which goes to the OHL playoff MVP which is a probable feat for Suzuki if the Storm goes all the way. Hopefully, he has a better NHL career than St. Pierre (he did play a game with the Habs in 2013.

The overall record is 51 by Justin Papineau in 1999 with the Belleville Bulls. It’ll be interesting to see how close Suzuki gets to that milestone. He’s already 24th overall, and with another four points, he can reach the top ten joining the likes of Mitch Marner and Connor McDavid and given their success in the NHL, that’s some great company to be in association with.

The series for Guelph now goes back to Ottawa, and if they win Game 5, they can have a chance to win the championship on home ice. Suzuki, as usual, will be looked upon to be a difference maker and seeing him put the team on the back is showing numerous signs of what can be for the future.